Displaced
by Airplane
Summary: she is actually doing quite well for a time displaced young woman who has just finished a century-long battle with demon, and whose admittedly-few friends are all long dead, and who hasn't used her vocal chords or seen the sun in a hundred years. (Post-BotW, Zelink)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

They don't speak much. Everything they have to say to each other feels too massive, as if Zelda will never find a handhold to get started. They should start planning for what to do next, but she again doesn't know where to start.

And they're both too tired to speak.

And they both deserve some rest before she throws them both into another scheme.

And they don't really know each other that well.

And she's too horrified by the state of Castletown to think straight.

"It's kind of nice now," Link says. "Without guardians everywhere."

He hops over a low wall—no, the ruins of a building—and kicks a depowered guardian a few times before ducking under one of its legs and digging through its innards. He pops back up with a gear and holds it up to her with the most exhausted smile she's ever seen.

She stares at him. Then she stares at what was once the skyline of the capital city.

He takes her elbow and guides her out of town, through fields and over hills that feel much steeper than they actually are. She wonders if she could do a study: actual gradient versus perceived gradient, where she asked people to estimate the angle of incline. She has to stop at the top with her hands on her knees, gasping for breath.

She hasn't had much exercise lately.

Link pats her shoulder once, and goes on ahead, and when she's caught her breath enough to look up, she sees him crouched in the tall grass below her, sneaking up behind a horse.

It seems like a very bad idea.

Her lips part to shout something, to warn him he's too tired, too slow, that he's going to get kicked in the face and _then_ where would they be? But he runs and leaps and the herd scatters around them as the horse he's on bucks and rears, trying to throw him. He's low to its back, fists tight in its mane, shouting "Whoa, whoa!"

And then the horse settles, snorts, shakes its head. Its shoulders are tense, but it's no longer trying to kill Link. He pats the horse's shoulder and coos at it, then leads it haltingly up the hill towards her. He dismounts to offer her a hand, groaning unconsciously as he hoists her onto the creature's back, then he hauls himself up behind her, far less nimble than he was a minute ago, when he practically vaulted onto a wild animal.

She's never rode bareback before. She hasn't ridden with someone else since she was a little girl. She doesn't know what to do with her hands.

Link aims them toward Dueling Peaks, and the whole way there they cycle through dozing off under the monotony and jerking back awake.

He gets them to the stable just after sunset. He practically topples off of the horse. He pulls some rupees from his pocket—way too many rupees—and pushes them into her hands. "Get us two beds." His voice is like a sigh. "I think I'm going to keep the horse, so I'll get her registered."

The horse had calmed as they traveled, and now it nuzzled Link's elbow, shoving at his back.

"Is it a good horse?" she asks. It feels like a stupid question.

"She's a good girl," he says, which isn't quite the answer she expected.

It feels like way too many rupees, and she wonders at first if, in his exhaustion, he handed her the wrong amount. But if so, that's an easy fix, as she will just return the unused rupees to him. She then worries that perhaps he's brought her somewhere very nice out of concern for what he would consider her aristocratic tastes. Maybe he thought her a snob, which she certainly was not, and she would have to have words with him about how she was perfectly content to _rough it_ , as it were. She couldn't possibly spend his hard-earned money on frivolities.

As it turns out, renting a bed is…well…renting a bed, of which there are six in the main room. Also in that same room is a rowdy group of travelers gathered around a table, a young man tuning a lute in the corner, and a perilously thin salesman sitting cross-legged on the floor with an enormous bag on his back and a table folded out in front of him. One of the beds is already taken, its occupant dead to the world despite the din.

Maybe she is a snob. Just a bit.

She squares her shoulders and approaches the counter, purchasing two beds for the night and "specials," which turn out to be salt-grilled fish, a couple bread rolls, and a glass of goat milk.

This uses up the money. Exactly.

Link looks pleased with the dinner. She can't tell if he's so tired that it looks like he has deep, purple bruises under his eyes, or if he actually has bruises on his face. The warm light makes it hard to tell. He sits on his bed with his food, and she follows suit, facing him from her own bed, balancing her plate on her knees. It's a bit too hot to hold for more than a few seconds at a time and she pulls a few more layers of her dress between her plate and her knees. She has nowhere to place her milk and ends up setting it on the floor.

"I named her Horsey Porsey," he says.

"You what? Who?"

"The horse." He gestures towards the register, his mouth suddenly full of dinner roll.

"Oh."

He swallows. It looks as though it hurts to do so.

She leans forward, lowering her voice. "This is a very expensive inn."

He frowns. Chews.

"This bed was 40 rupees," she hisses.

"That's a good price," he says.

That is horrifying. "We just spent a hundred twenty rupees on one night's sleep and a single meal! A farm worker's average monthly income is 240 rupees! How can this…Oh." She freezes.

Link stares at her. His chewing has slowed, as if he thinks she might turn hysterical and violent and he fears he might need to restrain her.

Her face heats, and she lowers her eyes to her plate only to meet the dead-eyed stare of her fish. "Those figures are a bit out of date, I suppose." Her hands shake, and she tears up her dinner roll to hide it. "Inflation is not an uncommon phenomenon. I really should have anticipated it."

She hears Link swallow, then place his plate on the floor. For a moment, she thinks he might bridge the space between them, kneel before her to force her to look him in the eyes, take her hands in his own, tell her that she is actually doing quite well for a time displaced young woman who has just finished a century-long battle with demon, and whose admittedly-few friends are all long dead, and who hasn't used her vocal chords or seen the sun in a hundred years. It's a perfectly reasonable mistake to make. They are both tired and should really get some sleep.

Instead, he picks up his glass of milk with a clink, downs it in three, noisy gulps, and places it on the floor beside his plate. He then falls back on his bed with a sigh. He's just done with his meal. That's all.

"I might sleep for three days," he says. She looks up and his eyes are already closed.

She takes a breath and takes a bite of fish. It's really quite good. Not that her palate is very discerning at the moment.

"Hey."

She looks up. Link's eyes are open again. He offers her a smile.

"We won."

She swallows. Why does she feel like crying?

"Yes," she says. "I suppose we did."

He yawns. Then he's dead to the world.


	2. Chapter 2

The residents of Dueling Peaks Stable would later tell of the woman dressed in white, who, as the sun was rising, walked out of the stable and straight into the water. They said she hadn't slept the night before, but rather she lay in her bed and listened as the travelers talked. Domidak said that listening to their tall tales and easy comradery was how she had first learned the language. Before that night, she hadn't understood a word. After that night, she was fluent.

It was said that as she walked, she shed her jewelry-stiff gold bracelets that stretched up her forearms and a sold gold necklace that arched between her collar bones. She let the drop where they landed and marched across the gravel road barefoot. Rensa pointed out that this was nonsense, and she'd done nothing of the sort, but these details did make for a better story.

She walked straight into the water, even though it was close to freezing. Her stride never slowed. She didn't hug herself. She didn't dive in. She just walked, eyes fixed ahead, water creeping up her legs, her chest, her neck, until she vanished from sight without a ripple.

There was a long silence. As if nothing had happened. It had been an illusion. An apparition. The woman was a ghost, a spirit of sorrow.

Until she reemerged at the base of the shrine, hauling herself from the water to prop herself, half collapsed, on the ground. She gasped for breath, her lungs too cold to expand. Her dress was waterlogged, leaving great puddles on the stone of the shrine. Her hair had slicked to her scalp and neck. It clung to her back. The cold had made her even more pale, even more ghost-like.

She rubbed at her arms, at first as if she were working heat back into them, but then with more urgency. No one had missed how filthy she was when she'd arrived. Not just regular travel grime and horse smell either. She was covered in mud and grease and gore. She smelled of panicked sweat and of the blasted stone up the hill on the north side of Dueling Peaks where rumor had it that a guardian patrolled. She scrubbed at her arms to clean them of grime and dirt, to scrub away rain and tears, to scrub away memories. She went after her skin with her fingernails, bringing up red splotches. She moved on to her legs, scraping at her feet, her calves, her knees, then her chest and neck and face. She tried to scrape at her scalp, but her braid was in the way, so she undid it.

A hunk of hair broke off in her hand.

From the stable, where they were watching, Cima had gasped, slapping a hand to her mouth. Prissen shifted uncomfortably and turned his back to avert his eyes (something he had not done when she'd started hiking up her skirt to get clean). The girl must not have taken her hair from that braid in months. She should never have tried to take it down while it was wet. She stared at the hair in horror. Then lowered it slowly. Swallowed visibly.

She took down the rest of her hair with more care and more breakage, the frantic energy of her scrubbing had drained into a loss no one at the stable could explain, but they all felt it in the air and understood.

The sun rose and she scrubbed-her dress her hair, her face. She got in between her toes and under her fingernails. He hair started to dry with bulky crimps from her braids. They defied gravity. Even wetting, scrubbing, and finger-combing her hair hadn't made a dent.

The residents of the stable lost interest and went back to their business, checking on her sporadically.

She stared at the entrance to the shrine for nearly an hour. That was the closest anyone came to going out and calling to her. They all knew not to mess around with the shrine.

Eventually, she waded back out of the water and lay down on the grass, letting the noon-time sun dry her. She didn't move. In some versions of the story, she lay down in the grass and died. Her ghost is still there.

In some versions, she was never alive to begin with.

But then Link finally woke up. He bought some traveling clothes for her that were too big, and he couldn't find shoes that fit her, so she had to wear her strappy sandals. Cima threw in a head scarf for free. Link took out two horses and got them tacked up. Only then did he call out to her, and only then did she rise.

#

Zelda lasts about fifteen minutes from the stable until she can't keep her questions to herself any longer. "Where? Where did you find the royal gear? Is it authentic? And where did you find this horse? However did you manage it?"

He smiles and it's infuriating. "You like it?"

"I...I don't know."

His face falls a bit, and even though she didn't appreciate his smugness, now she feels ungrateful.

"It's just so strange. Seeing it again." It's so familiar in her hands, the way it lies against the horse's mane is so familiar that it's giving her vertigo. But the leather is more worn than when she last held it, and worn in different places. Its color has faded. It's gone and had a life of its own. And, as much as this horse looks like her old favorite (probably one of its descendants, if she has to guess), this is not her horse-a fact that the horse refuses to let her forget.

"Thank you," she says. "It's a kind gesture." She smiles, making sure it raises her cheeks. "It must have been quite the heroic quest!"

He smiles, but it doesn't touch his eyes, and he looks away. She has failed at conversation.

She asks, "Where are we going?"

"Hateno Village."

Her heart seizes then speeds. She fights down the need to take tiny, rapid breaths. Of course. They're headed east. She should have known. They'll be at Fort Hateno any minute. And before that-before that they'll be in the field, the battle ground before the gates, the final stand.

Link is unconcerned.

She murmurs, "I've never heard of a village of that name."

"I think it's new. Relatively."

"Oh. Of course." She swallows, talks through the dizziness. "New settlements would have risen up and others...fallen."

Her lips are quivering. Or are her teeth chattering? Her hands feel numb with cold, and she flexes them around the reigns.

The trees clear, and the battleground spreads before them. The rusted and crumbling carcasses of a thousand guardians are strewn on the ground, rising up the wall of the fort like a frozen wave. A cloud passes in front of the sun and something red moves in her periphery, and she can smell them, bile and grease and ozone, the smell of malice that she will never get off her skin, the smell of ancient artifacts, which she once found so exciting, so invigorating. She's going to be sick. She's going to die. They're all dead. She's killed them all. And now Link-

She's running. She's panting. They're coming. It's found her. A pulse as its eye locks onto her, a pulse as her heart sinks. It rushes forward. She can't move. It grabs her.

She screams.

It has her locked in a claw, a force presses against her eyes, blinding her.

"Shhh. Zelda, deep breaths."

Link. Link's dying. She's killed him.

"The battle's over. Listen to what's around you. Tell me what you hear."

"It's charging for a blast. Like a live wire. A whine."

"That's your memory listening. Listen with your ears now. You're a scientist. Tell me what you observe. Here. Now."

She's breathing too hard to hear anything. She just keeps seeing a moment: the guardian climbing over one of its fallen brothers that collapses under the weight. A crunch. A crumbling. A scrape.

"I hear the wind," Link says.

"The wind." She tries to breathe. "The wind."

Birdsong erupts behind her, and she jumps so hard she almost unseats herself from the horse. She's on a horse. In the future. Link is behind her, a hand locked over her eyes. How did he get there?

"That's a rainbow sparrow," he says. "You hear it?"

"Yes," it comes out choked. She's grasping at the sound, holding onto it for dear life. A songbird. There's a songbird here.

"Good," he says. They listen together as its song twitters and scales, as the song fades as the bird flies away.

He nudges the horse with his knees and they're moving again. "Can you feel the sun? What else can you hear?"

She can feel the sun. It's warm on her cheeks. There's no sun in her memories. She pushes them from her mind and focuses on the senses available to her. She's a scientist. She can observe without preconceived bias. "Hoof beats," she breathes. "And I can smell something floral. Wildflowers. I don't know what kind. And something...hyrule herb and armoranth?"

"That's my soap."

"Oh."

His hand is warm over her eyelids. She can feel his pulse in the palm pressed against her temple. She can feel his breathing press against her back. Both are steady. Calming.

After the longest walk, the sun vanishes against her skin and the cold rushes in. She tenses, but a moment later, Link drops his hand from her eyes, and she blinks at the shade of a forest. They've passed the fort.

Link does not return to his own horse.


	3. Chapter 3

No one gave much thought to Link riding into town with a young woman sharing his saddle. They all figured he was on one of his bizarre errands to escort her somewhere, and the young woman was probably paying him in mushrooms or boots or something.

"That boy would move a mountain five feet to the left for 15 rupees," the people of Hateno joked.

Of course, the kid _had_ managed to buy a house at an obscene markup. Bolson had bragged about it constantly before he moved up to Tarrey Town with his new fortune. And Sayge from the dye shop said that Link once pulled a sapphire out of his bag and used it to dye his shirt blue, only to come in a few days later, saying it didn't suit him. So maybe there was something to taking every odd job that came across your path.

The folks in Hateno did think it was weird that his usual horse trailed behind him, and that he was riding a white horse decked in ostentatious purple and gold gear. Who did he think he was, the Damned King of Hyrule? But maybe that was part of his bargain with the young lady.

They made it just inside the town gates before turning towards his house, and—out of sight and out of mind—the strange pairing was mostly forgotten for days.

#

The second they step in the door of his house, Link strips off his shield and bow and sword, letting his various belts clatter into a pile on the kitchen table, which is the main feature of the room, and therefore of the house. Zelda lets her eyes wander without taking anything in. The Sheikah Slate and a quiver clatter to the table next, and then Link is stripping off his arm guards and his champion's tunic. Zelda stares unfocused at the way his undershirt drapes against his shoulder blades and ends up staring at the same spot even as Link turns around, stares at her, and takes her arm to guide her upstairs.

The stairs feel unnecessarily steep, and she can feel herself slow on the last few steps. Where yesterday it felt like she'd slept for a hundred years and would never need to sleep again, today it feels like she's been awake for a hundred years and could sleep for an age to make up for it. She's dead on her feet, and Link has to set her on the edge of the bed.

The tiny clasps on her sandals give her more trouble than anything has ever given her before, and after trying and failing with numb fingers, she gives up. She's going to sleep in her shoes. But Link kneels before her, taking her ankle in hand. A moment later the tightness around her foot loosens, and her shoes clatter to the floor. She tries to remove her kerchief, but the knot is hard and tight, and she can't get her fingernails into it to pull it apart, so she ends up just pulling the whole thing down and off. Maybe it will stay knotted forever.

The bed is nice. Not too hard. The pillow not too fluffy. As Link presses her shoulder to get her to lie down, as her eyes become too heavy to keep open, she takes hold of his forearm and doesn't let go. He doesn't protest. Of course, he only has one bed. Of course, she's not going to let him sleep on the floor after he saved her kingdom. Of course, she's not going to sleep on the floor. She's much too tired for any of that nonsense.

She wakes from a nightmare of hot, rancid breath cocooning her body, of pink smog seeping under her closed eyelids, of the smell and the laughing and the laughing and the _laughing_. She gasps, and it's dark and hot and something—someone—is restraining her, something is wrapped tight around her so she can't escape. The air is thick and damp and she can't breathe, and her rescue must have been a dream—a nightmare.

Until the thing restraining her shifts and mutters, "It's a bad dream, Zel. Jus a bad dream."

It's Link's voice. She's in Link's house. He's snuggled up against her back and already asleep once more. Her hair and the sheets are clammy with sweat.

Link hugs her tighter, as if comforting, but then seems to realize how gross her side of the bed is, and he rolls over in his sleep. With shaking hands, she pulls off all the extra blankets, shifting them so they still cover Link, and she settles back under a thin, cotton sheet with a cringe.

She's so tired.

She almost remembers when shadows slept behind her eyelids. Now every time she closes her eyes, she sees swirling pink and flashes of Ganon.

She wakes again briefly. There's soup on a low heat downstairs, sending rich smells wafting into the loft. At some point, Link must have woken long enough to make a meal. Now he's passed out next to her again. He no longer smells of battle. His hair is damp, and he has on a fresh shirt, which is unlike anything she'd ever seen before: thin and simple and bright red with short sleeves. He's swapped out their blankets too, and although her hairline feels stiff, it's much nicer than it was. He has an arm thrown over her waist, and while his breath doesn't have the resonant growl that would qualify it a snore, it is deep and loud and exhausted. He still has dark patches under both his eyes.

She blinks sleepily a few times before rolling over and going back to sleep.

#

The next time she wakes, it's to the stomach churning feeling of Calamity Ganon crashing down on top of her, and she's done with sleeping again for the next hundred years. Link is still dead to the world, one arm flopping off the bed, his knuckles dragging on the floor. There's a spot of droll under his face, and his odd shirt has ridden up to nearly his ribs.

Zelda heads down stairs as quietly as she can and spoons soup into a ceramic bowl. She finds it strange that Link has a complete set of eight matching bowls, then feels slightly ashamed of herself. Why shouldn't he have nice, appropriate dishware? He has a house, for goodness sake. But when did he have time to get a house? No, she shouldn't begrudge him. A home base must have been comforting and necessary, and it has come in handy now.

The soup is very very good. It goes down much easier than the other meals she's had since she left the castle. She doesn't have to force it down her throat, doesn't hesitate before each bite. It's so nice that she suspects that Link noticed how...foreign she's found the simple act of eating. And isn't that embarrassing?

She sips another spoonful, and lets her eyes close in appreciation. Oh, how she'd missed Link's cooking.

The next order of business is a bath. She circles the cottage without catching sight of a tub or a well or anything that Link might have used when he bathed, so she extends her search wider. The bridge they crossed to reach the house stretches over a ravine with water at the bottom. It's a secluded spot with no easy way down.

By now her legs are tired, her muscles so unused to activity, that she lies down in the grass and lets the sun soak into her skin, lets it burn away the nightmares that encroach if her mind is less than blank. It's like she's still fighting the same battle, only now the battle is letting her mind slide away from certain subjects. She marks the sun's path across the sky, shifting her face ever so slightly to follow it until she feels like walking again.

She ends up circling almost back to the village before finding her way down the hill to the pond at the bottom. Link mentioned something about soap, so she returns to the house to dig through the stores squirreled away in his kitchen until she finds a bar of purple soap and a towel that's never been used. Its dusty. But fluffy.

She makes it down to the pond before she needs to lie in the sun again.

If she's quiet, the wind is louder than Ganon's laugh, but that means she's not breathing as much as she should, and that gets her wondering if she breathed during her long, incorporeal battle, and maybe she's fallen out of practice. The thought is a good distraction, and she spends about ten degrees of the sun's movement across the sky practicing her breathing.

She bathes, scraping off the stink of a hundred years, rubbing the bar of soap straight against her hair when she can't get enough suds, as if she's grinding powder with a mortar and pestle. She can still smell the malice, and she works at all the tiny crevices in her ears to try to find and remove the lingering smell. She scrubs her eyes, over and over and over, soaps every eyelash, digs into the corners of her eyes until they burn. If she wasn't so absolutely sure what a bad idea it would be and also fairly sure she'd be unable to get a good angle, she would force the suds under her eyelids. She pushes suds into her very nostrils and scrubs and chokes and splutters. After a moment of hesitation, she even shoves a handful of suds into her mouth and scrubs against her tongue and the roof of her mouth and the inside of her cheeks. She gags and splutters and rinses five times, and in the end her mouth tastes of amaranth and cilantro instead of bile and smoke and decay, so it's an improvement.

She needs another rest, and after she's mostly dried and dressed, she lies down again in the grass. The sun is lowering, and she realizes that she will be without it for the next ten hours or so, and the prospect seems horribly unfair.

She combs out her hair before the sun sets. It's a horrible mess of different lengths, but at least it's straight now. She ties it all up on top of her head and kneels at the edge of the pond to go after her nose again with the soap. She'll be damned if she allows the smell to linger forever. She suspects the stench is now coming from her clothes.

Link is still asleep, and she eats more soup, hoping he'll wake before she's done so she can ask him a question. She dithers over her...dinner? Does this meal count as dinner? She's lost track.

He doesn't wake.

She washes dishes.

He doesn't wake.

She makes noise as she thumps up the stairs, and he doesn't seem to notice, so she kneels next to the bed and whispers, "Link?"

"Hrumf."

"Link?"

He rolls away from her.

"Link." She prods his shoulder, and he pulls the blanket up to his ears.

She sighs. It's really not fair to wake him.

But there's no way she'll be able to sleep again, and there's nothing to do in Link's house to get her through the night. The thought of being alone in the dark with nothing to occupy her mind has her nearly in a panic. She needs a book or a project.

In a normal volume, she says, "I'm going into town to buy some things. Can I borrow a hundred rupees? I'll pay you back with interest."

He mutters something that sounds like, "Take three," and then doesn't respond again.

It's...disconcerting going through his wallet. Both that she's taking more from him, and possibly taking from him without his permission, and that she's required to take from him in the first place.

But she absolutely must find something to do.

The village is still active, even after the sun has set. All the stores are still open, and she peers at all the signs like the tourists used to gawk up at the castle. She mentions to the general store owner that she's looking for something to read, and the look she gets in response is confusion and disgust.

Zelda panics. It hadn't occurred to her—but of course it's obvious—that items like paper might be difficult to produce with limited trade. And if printing press technology has fallen into disuse, books would be rare and prohibitively expensive. With horror, she realizes her country might be illiterate, but then she remembers the signs in the street, and amends her hypothesis. She soothes herself. People can read. People can read.

The main trade in Hateno (aside from the agricultural) seems to be textiles. Great vats of dye sit on the sides of the main thoroughfare and great banners of fabric are stretched out to dry. This she can work with, and a project occurs to her. She stops in the tailor's shop. There's rust-colored cotton that brings out the red undertones of her hair, but looks a bit too much like blood. There's a deep blue cotton/wool blend that the shop keeper calls, "Royal Blue." Zelda's eyes slip away from it, rolling like a bead of water off a leaf. There's a sturdy brown that would be good for new pants and a slate gray that draws her fingers to touch it. There's an emerald green that does wonders for her eyes. Or so says the shop keeper. Zelda takes several yards of the gray and brown and green, a bunch of clasps and cord and plenty of thread. As she's gathering her materials, she realizes that she has no sewing equipment, so she buys scissors and pins and chalk and springs for a nice set of needles.

She has the pattern sketched on the brown fabric before the moon sets. She has the pieces cut before the sun rises. The fabric is courser than what she's used to, but her stitches are still small and neat and even. She still works quickly, although her hands ache from over-exertion and her eyes are itchy. She goes outside to work, to sit in the sun, and let the heat creep into her skin and soak into the fabric to warm her cramping hands.

Stitching is methodical. Sewing the pieces together is an a miracle of geometry that protects her like a spell.

She has a pair of pants together— not hemmed or reinforced, but together before the sun sets again. And she creeps upstairs (oh, the stairs are steep!) to check that Link is still asleep before she tries them on. He's still asleep. The pants fit.

She allows herself a nap at the table, but she jerks awake an hour later, and it takes another hour to get her head back on straight, to stop jerking at every shadow from the corner of her eye. The pants are ready to wear by morning, so she wears them. They go down only to mid calf, so they look good with her golden sandals.

The top is much easier to make, a gray tunic that will wrap in the front, held together by a clasp on her left side. She plans to make little cap sleeves. She's aiming for simple. She's aiming to blend in around town, blend into this new world, blend so well her memories forget that they have anything to do with her. Maybe eventually she will make an undershirt, but for now, bare arms seem a fine idea. She has the pieces cut out by mid afternoon, and she takes her work down to the pond. Her eyes keep slipping closed and her shoulders ache and a headache lives right behind her eyes, but that headache keeps sentry between her and Calamity Ganon, so it's acceptable. Her stitches are getting sloppier though, and that is not.

She jerks and stabs into her finger at a shout from above, her pulse suddenly rabbit quick. And there's Link, shouting and leaping off the cliff and snapping open his paraglider. She presses her finger into her mouth to stem the blood with her tongue before it can stain her new tunic. Link closes his paraglider early to fall the last eight feet and land in a crouch, spinning to face her.

"Are you alright?!" His hair is a mess and he's still in his soft, red shirt and loose pants. He's not wearing shoes. From the startled look in his eyes, he's still half asleep.

"Yes. Of course."

"I couldn't find you."

She gestures around. "I hardy went far."

He blinks at her, then down at her hands. She holds up the new tunic, just a back connected to a right side and part of a left side at the moment. "I'm making myself a new set of clothes. When I'm done, I have plans to make a fashionable dress that I'll be able to sell. Surely the level of craftsmanship I can provide along with embroidery techniques that haven't been seen in a hundred years—at least as far as I can tell—will provide a return on your investment from the loan you gave me."

He blinks at her again. Then he rolls his eyes.

He rolls. His. Eyes.

Zelda is speechless, and almost flushes in outrage, before she reminds herself that she's working with gray fabric and not blue. If she wants to be offended like a princess, she'll have to let in other things like a princess.

He looks her up and down again, his gaze too astute for her liking, so she raises haughty eyebrows and shakes back her hair in a way that doesn't work with her headscarf.

"Did you sleep?" he asks.

"Yes," she says, primly. "Although not for three days. Not all of us have your level of endurance in such tasks."

He looks like he's about to argue with her, but he holds himself back. She half wants him to argue with her, because he slept for three days and left her alone the whole time with her memories the way he left her alone for a hundred years with the real thing, and that's a terribly ungrateful thought, but she could really do with a fight right now.

Instead, he asks, "Do you need anything from town?"

"No, thank you."

"Don't wander too far. I don't remember if there was a blood moon since the last time I cleared out the forest."

And then he's gone, trudging back up the hill and leaving her alone with the constant exercise of breathing and the constant endurance exercise in never letting her thoughts land. Hopefully he put on shoes before going into town.

She's a bit aggressive with her stitching after that, and has to remove several due to unconscionable errors, so she gathers up her half-a-tunic and walks back to the house to sit on the front step because the walk has made her tired. By the time she's rested, she's in a better mindset to continue her sewing, although she does have to go slower because her brain is a bit muddled and her fingers a bit inaccurate. Just a bit.

Link returns just as the sun is setting with a barrel on his back that's wider than it is tall. It turns out to be a bathtub, and once the lid is removed also turns out to be full of things. Vegetables and rice for dinner and, for him, bundles of arrows. For her, a toothbrush and hairbrush and a new bar of soap that smells less herbal than his. Three blank journals and a set of pencils in box with a knife for sharpening them. She falls upon these with an enthusiasm that drowns out her earlier irritation. There's a candle that he holds up under her nose. "Doesn't it smell like honey?" There's a bag of hard candies that there's no way she can eat and the thought of letting them sit on her tongue and ooze fruit flavor makes her tremble with nausea. She politely declines, and he shrugs and pops one in his mouth. There's a roll of leather that she can use for a corset and a belt, if she gets supplies for leather working and doesn't mind wearing a belt made by someone with very little leather working skill. There's folds of cream colored fabric and the dark blue fabric that she ignored at the store. She continues to ignore it now. There's a stack of head scarves in every color, the bottom of which is sky blue with little white flowers on it.

"Got ya some tea, too," he says. "It'll give you sleep without dreams."

She glares at him.

He pops another candy in his mouth, moves the blue fabric from the tub to an empty shelf inside, and hauls the tub around back toward the stable.

The tea is bitter, and the dinner he makes is creamy and savory. She falls asleep at the table and wakes up twelve hours later in the bed in the loft in Hateno.


	4. Chapter 4

Zelda designs a pulley system to lift buckets of water from the pond under the bridge. These she'll use to fill the bathtub. In the grass next to the cooking pot, she plans out the mechanism in her journal with sketches and measurements and force calculations.

Link cooks rice balls. Zelda is intently aware that he is studying her, running an experiment on what she will and won't eat. She's more likely to eat rice than bread, which feels doughy and cloying in her throat. She's only likely to eat more than a few bites if the protein hidden inside is shredded crab meat or fish. She's more likely to eat if Link has formed the rice balls into geometric figures. Triangles and cylinders and cubes so they no longer look like food. He makes one rice ball that looks like a bunny, and he's so proud of himself that Zelda forces herself to finish the whole thing. She must make a face, and he must notice, because the next meal is back to vegetarian rice triangles.

He likes looking over her shoulder as she sketches. When she's done with her plan and pretty sure it will work, he helps her build her creation with wood from the forest below and nails he snags from the worksite of boxy houses across the ravine. They dig a hole to brace a post at the top of the ravine, and Link pulls out an overly large hammer to slam a post deeper into the ground. For the pulley apparatus, they use axles and gears Link has pilfered from guardians. The mechanism works beautifully, but they still have to lug at least ten buckets from the pulley to the tub before the tub is full enough to use. After ten buckets, the water in the tub is still not as deep as Zelda would like, but she's tired and declares it good enough, waving Link away when he tries to take over. She starts plans for a kind of aqueduct that will pipe the water from the pulley system straight into the tub. But her plans come to an ignominious end when she realizes she has no idea how to construct pipes. Can they make tubes out of hollowed wood? Can they carve pipes out of rock? Is there a way she can waterproof cloth? Can they hold sections together with mortar?

She lists any solution that avoids mentioning Goron City and the help that's readily available there. By unspoken agreement, they refuse to mention the world outside Hateno.

She is the worst inventor. And an even more horrible crown princess.

Link helps her construct wooden walls around the tub to make a bathing room at the back of the house. He doesn't seem to mind that she's coming in and adding rooms to his home, and she reminds herself that the bath was kind of his idea anyway. She holds boards in place while he nails them with his giant sledge hammer. It's terrifying, but she feels like her arms are regaining their muscle mass. She suggests they go into town to procure a hammer of a more reasonable size, but Link argues that the sledge hammer isn't even close to breaking yet. She wonders what will happen to the sledge hammer shards hurtling towards her face when it does eventually shatter.

They agree that they'd both much rather have stone walls for the bathing room, but, just like the pipes, neither of them know how to make that happen.

Zelda designs a pump system that will make it so she doesn't have to haul the water up at all, but this is entirely theoretical.

Link leans over her shoulder again to read her journal and look at her designs. She would find this irritating if not for the fact that he's assisting her in her work and needs to know what they're doing, and he also smells like the apple juice she managed to drink, so he blends into the background. She likes him just being present, even if he doesn't say anything, and maybe that makes her selfish and needy, but there's simply no controlling these things.

He tilts his head until it leans against her shoulder. Then he says, "I bet Purah has supplies you could use. You should talk to her about this."

Her pencil freezes in its tapping against her page.

She turns slowly to look at him, and he cranes to meet her eyes without lifting his head, looking only mildly curious.

"Purah," she repeats.

"Yeah. Up the hill at the tech la—"

His eyes widen as he realizes his mistake.

Slowly—as this is not sinking in at all—she says, "There's a tech lab up the hill."

Link jerks from her shoulder and scrambles to his feet, reaching down to grab her hand and haul her up as well. He vanishes into the house to fetch his sword while she flattens down the blue handkerchief in her hair. They're walking at speed into town before he even has his sword properly strapped onto his back.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think—"

"Purah's still alive!"

"—She just never really has anything for me to do—"

"The building up the hill is a tech lab!"

"—So I don't visit her real often—"

"And she's living in Hateno!"

He cringes.

"Why didn't you say anything?!"

"I...forgot?" He does look honestly apologetic, but that won't save him.

Someone she knew! Someone she knew and who knew her! Some normalcy! She wants to throw her arms around it and cling. She wants Purah to wrap Zelda in a hug and then share pointless castle gossip. She wants to drop onto the grass and hug her knees and never finish the trek up the hill.

Perhaps this is a bad idea.

No. No, this is right.

But she must prepare herself for the fact that Purah will have changed. It's been a hundred years, after all. Her personality has most likely mellowed from the personally invasive and ravenously curious scientist of her youth. And Zelda knows she must brace for changes in her friend's physical appearance. She must fortify herself to show no signs of shock or disappointment or sadness. That would be the height of rudeness, and she's too thankful for a kind face (no matter how unfamiliar). She cannot afford alienating her old friend. (Don't say _old_ friend!) And they most definitely won't indulge in castle gossip. And she must fortify herself against the distinct possibility that her friend does not remember her well. Or at all.

But dealing with Link for the past week, she's sure she has that aspect, at least, firmly in hand.

Or perhaps she doesn't. What would she do if Purah doesn't remember her? Or remembers only skewed pieces of her. Or remembers her as the failed princess who allowed their kingdom fall into ruin with her laziness?

That is most definitely what Purah thinks of her. They should turn around. They should move from Hateno altogether. To a house further south, perhaps.

Or what if Purah has built Zelda up over the years, and then Zelda shows up like...like _this_? What if Zelda is a disappointment? A disappointment yet again.

What if Purah expects her arrival to herald in a new era for Hyrule? This is the end of their rest period, and she will have to face her destiny once again. She'll have to face the crown and the throne and—and—

And she was...not _enjoying_ her time in Link's home per-say, but it felt stable and calm and set and—and they hadn't finished the bathroom yet!

Link's hand squeezes her arm above the elbow, guiding her to a stop before a pond encircled by one of the switchbacks.

"I'm sorry I forgot," he says. "I really am."

She waves it away, too agitated by her spiraling thoughts to even remember his lapse in memory. Link has amnesia, after all. Lapses in memory are to be expected. "It's quite alright."

She wipes her palms on her thighs. This is a longer walk than she's used to, even with pushing herself daily to exercise. Would it be too cowardly to rest by this pond before hiking the last stretch?

Link is looking at her, his head tilted at an angle, his eyes reading her face like she's a book. The wind brushes at his hair in a much more endearing way than it tugs loose stray wisps of her own. "We don't have to see her if you don't want."

A sigh burst from her cheeks so readily that it gives away her thoughts. "No. No. She's a dear friend, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing her once again. It would be rude—shameful almost—to not say hello."

"Then what's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong."

He nearly rolls his eyes at her again. She can tell. But he shows restraint.

Instead he says, "I never used to have to guess what you were thinking. You used to do all your thinking out loud."

"Did I?" she asks.

"I assumed so. What with how much you talked."

She gasps and shoves him. Not hard, and he barely even sways away from her. She huffs and folds her arms across her chest, which just makes him smirk at her.

"I mean," he continues, "it didn't seem like there'd be any room for you to do any thinking on top of all the thinking you were doing out loud."

She throws her arms from their folded position to plant them on her hips. "I'll have you know that, despite what _you_ may be capable of, I can hold a great many thoughts in my head simultaneously."

"Uh huh."

"Perhaps _I'm_ speaking less frequently because you've become downright loquacious, and I hardly have space to speak anymore!"

He snorts. "That's not it." They're walking again, more slowly this time up the hill. She has clear, wild view west, over Hateno and forests and fields, back towards Dueling Peaks so far in the distance they're blurred like a dream of far away places.

Under his breath, Link snickers. "Loquacious."

She glares at him, and he grins at her. It's much easier to be irritated his his foolishness than worry about her own problems. She wonders if he does it on purpose.

The tech lab is a mess. It's lopsided and precarious as if whoever built it really should not have added that tiny house perched on the roof. Rickety stairs spiral up the outside to a giant telescope left to rust in the elements and a deck chair with a jaunty umbrella over it.

The castle's tech lab was a half dozen stone buildings full of the latest research, the most expansive technical library, the most complete pantry of samples and ingredients. There were dozens of researchers and assistants, there were couriers running on endless errands. At the end, money had been a non-issue, and every room unveiled a new marvel, a new wonder of engineering.

Zelda's jaw drops at the Prayer Frog wearing whimsical glasses, perched right over the door. Her religion has turned to kitch.

Link moves to throw open the door, but jerks to a stop and spins back to her. "Shoot. There's something else I should have mentioned."

Dread locks her legs in place. She's not sure she can take any more. "What?"

The door flies open with a crash, and suddenly there's a little girl shouting at Link.

"Where have you been? It's been almost a week and not a word! Don't think I don't know Calamity Ganon was defeated! And you couldn't be bothered to let anyone know. I bet Impa thinks you've been kidnapped!"

The girl doesn't even come up to Link's chest. Her ruffled skirt flounces as she stomps her foot and shakes tiny fists. Her big, red glasses with eyelashes attached complete the wholly unintimidating look.

Link cringes anyway and offers a weak, "Sorry." His eyes dart to Zelda. He pulls his lower lip between his teeth.

"Sorry! He's sorry! You hear that, Symin? He says he's sorry."

Behind the tiny girl is a man frozen over the book he was reading, His eyes dart between Link and the little girl, unsure if he should intervene or vanish into the shadows.

Apparently, the girl's question was rhetorical, because she has spun back to Link. "What took you so long? Where is the princess? Do you know how much work we have to do? Ah! There she is."

The little girl's attention is suddenly on Zelda, and Link takes the opportunity to step back as quickly as he can from the situation.

The girl's hands clasp together in front of her, and her unnaturally magnified eyes disappear as she closes them in a grin. "Your Highness!" She performs an elaborate, girlish curtsy. "Thank the Goddess. It's so _good_ to see you finally safe."

Zelda's face falls back into her benevolent smile, the smile of years of practice. Funny how she can still make it do that. Funny that it's almost comforting in its familiarity, and at the same time it makes her want to double over and clutch her stomach.

"Thank you. I'm glad the ordeal is finally over, and Hyrule is finally at peace."

The girl blinks at her, the action unnervingly owlish. Also like an owl, she swivels to face Link with an unnatural gliding movement of her head. She pins him in place a moment, then burst out of it with a stamp of her foot and a shout, "You didn't tell her! How could you not tell her? You are the worst, worst, worst!"

Link opens his mouth but chokes on what he ought to say.

The next second, the girl has a notepad and pen in her hand, muttering to herself as she scribbles, "...subject's logic and self-preservation skills deteriorating..."

"But what about you?" the girl asks Zelda. "You remember me, right? Or do you both have memory issues?"

Zelda stares at her a long moment, her neutral face slowly morphing into the one of shock that she promised herself she wouldn't wear at this meeting. "Purah?"

The girl grins and strikes a pose with her fingers framing her face. "Snap! You're way smarter than that one." She jabs a thumb over her shoulder at Link.

"Purah." An emotion rises up from Zelda's chest, an aching pressure on her lungs, a tightening on her throat as she takes in the sight of the girl before her. She has the same forking eyelashes as the woman she once knew, the same twist of her mouth as she smiled at someone else's expense. There's something about the gestures of her hands, the movements of her fingers that throw Zelda back to the tech lab that once was.

The woman before her is more familiar than anything else she's seen in this new world, and yet...and yet...just like everything else, she's changed. Just like everything else, the change couldn't have been anticipated.

"Purah," she breathes again. Her eyes are welling, and if she's not careful, tears will overflow, but Purah is already waving away whatever emotion has welled up.

"None of that. We've got way too much to do. I'm sure Link already showed you—no, wait, he definitely hasn't. Bah, you're useless! We attached the slate's search feature to the compendium, so if you have something in the compendium, you can see if it's nearby and hone in on it. But I've been thinking we can hook that up to the map feature, and then you won't have to walk around dowsing for mushrooms. But you're the expert, and I need your opinion on if the connection is sound. And Link won't let go of the slate for more than twenty seconds at a time, so it's impossible to get any real work done, but now that you have it—don't you have it? Where is it? Link! Give it to her, good grief! And what are you wearing?" she asks Zelda. "That outfit is _not_ fit for a queen!" She says this last part with so much glee that she nearly cackles.

Feeling numb, Zelda follows to a guidance stone.

#

"She's a child," Zelda says as they make their way back down the hill after an afternoon spent elbow deep in ancient tech wiring, a nice dinner cooked by Symin, and promises to visit again the next day. "What happened to make her a child?" Zelda just can't believe it. She'd expected an old woman, but instead...

"Experiment gone wrong," Link says. "I think she just wanted to make herself not—you know—ancient. And for a while it worked and she was middle aged and youthful again. But then it just kept going. According to her journal, she turned into a teenager. Then into a child." He shrugs.

Zelda shakes her head. "She always was reckless, I suppose. I wonder if she gave any thought to the possible side effects. Self experimentation is always a bad idea."

Link pauses by a lantern lit with a bright blue fire. The sun is setting in the west, washing the fields below them in brilliant gold and pink. It seems to sparkle. The color makes her think she can smell sulfur, and she looks away to give her full attention to Link.

"She tries to make it sound like a whim," he says. His hair shines gold in the fading light. "Like it's a big, silly accident. But I don't buy it."

"You think she intended to turn herself into a child?"

Link turns from the sunset to look her square in the face. "I think she was afraid that she wouldn't live long enough for me to climb out of the shrine of resurrection."

Zelda only just manages to keep her mouth from hanging slack.

His lips quirk in a way that's half-teasing half-heart-wrenching. "She had one goal, and she didn't want to run out of time before she could see it through."

The lantern flickers as the wind picks up, cold against Zelda's bare arms. Link blinks a few times, then jerks his head towards the downward slope of the trail. Side by side and without another word, they continue down the hill.


	5. Chapter 5

There are new functions on the Sheikah slate. The Sheikah have had time to stew in the runes' existence, and Link takes the new features completely for granted. Zelda feels cheated that the slate— _her_ slate—withheld these marvels from her for so long, that they only decided to be useful when Link had possession of it. Link, who—again—had no concept of how amazing the features were, and learned to use it by smashing rather large blocks into one another and dropping objects from great heights.

She doesn't hold it against Link (much), but it seems unfair that the ancient Sheikah or the Goddess or whatever force had a hand in it didn't deem her worthy to know the slate's secrets.

Not that she's obsessing over that.

But now that the slate is back in her hands, she dives into its mysteries with a vengeance. When Link peels it from her hands in the evenings, swapping it out for dinner, she blinks blue lines from her eyes and straightens her shoulders and neck with a groan.

The slate can create columns of ice from even the shallowest ponds. How shallow can they be? She will need a controlled experiment. And the columns seem to have more volume than the water from which they were produced. She theorizes that the slate takes thermal energy somehow and converts it to...to...to what? Mass? That's impossible. The slate is impossible.

No. It can't be impossible. It's just highly, highly advanced science.

The slate can produce bombs from nothing. Endless, endless explosives from thin air. They glow oddly, in a way where she half suspects they're an illusion, but their explosions are certainly real. Link gets anxious anytime she puts her face too close to the bombs, inspecting their surfaces and fuse mechanisms from only a few inches away. A smaller mystery is how they are detonated remotely. That seems infinitely useful, but that question seems minor in light of the bombs' very existence.

Link shows her the stasis rune back behind the tech lab. He has her freeze a barrel so it converts all kinetic energy to potential energy as he wails on it with his sword. And then it snaps all that potential energy back to kinetic energy and careens off the cliff to fly out of sight into the ocean.

She blinks once into the distance. When the barrel remained unmoving as Link hit it, she was impressed. But now her mind is gone. Her forehead wrinkles, and she takes a breath to ask a question. It makes more logical sense than the bombs, but...but...but then she's shrieking. Shrieking at Link. At the slate in her shaking hands. At the barrel now eaten by the ocean. It doesn't matter. It's impossible! How could it possibly exist?! How had the ancient Sheikah invented it!? And how had they _lost_ such tremendous power!? Such loss of knowledge should be a crime! Her voice is so high pitched that Link is wincing, and even as she notices, she can't stop the stream of panicked dumb-foundedness that's expelled from her lungs.

Link herds her into Symin's care after that and makes himself scarce for a few hours until she calms down. (It's just...everything all at once. If it was just the stasis rune, she'd probably have been fine. She's fine. She'll be fine.) But by the time he comes back, she's thrown herself into it, and although she's stopped shrieking, she's now lost in a sea of manic notes, with a pencil in her hand and one behind her ear, and she's got a tape measure nailed to the floor by her foot so she can see how far she's stasis-shot rocks across the room. Purah has whipped together a device with a spring and a plunger that she can pull back a measurable amount and with which she can exert a specific force, and she's been using it to flick rocks in stasis. The pile of rocks is encroaching on Symin's neat area.

Symin tries his best both to be unobtrusive and welcoming. He doesn't say much, for which she's grateful. She also grows used to Purah. She really is quite similar to the woman Zelda once knew—the woman whose behavior was already juvenile for her age. And Zelda can so readily lose herself in her research that the world around her fades regardless of its terrors and absurdities. And maybe that's why she's so eager to let the research drown everything out. It's only every now and then when Zelda's brain feels the need to remind her, that she's shocked into remembering that Purah is a child and looks and sounds unnatural.

She lets the research drown everything out, but she still notices that Link is getting antsy. She can see it in the way he has trouble standing still. Even when he's doing something like cooking, the way he bounces and stirs, the way he darts around, into the house for more ingredients, into the house for dishes, around to the pulley to get water while the meal simmers. Any noise has him snapping to attention, and anytime he goes into town, he comes back with a story of helping someone do something menial. He herded and then milked four cows yesterday, and came back with four jars of milk. He's rounded up cuccos three times in the last two days. Each time he gets twenty rupees, and the last time he used a cucco to glide to the top of a house, where he found a treasure chest with a piece of amber inside.

"You stole someone's amber," Zelda tells him.

Link squints at the ceiling but can't bring himself to see her point of view.

The day she comes home and tells him that Symin heard of some bobokins causing problems down in the valley, he snatches up his supplies so fast he's practically running.

Link needs something to do. Perhaps, it's time to stop putting off the inevitable, time to admit she had rested enough, distracted herself enough. Maybe it's time to finally reclaim her kingdom.

Her stomach cramps thinking about it.

When he returns that evening, smeared with sweat and monster guts, carrying a bag of monster innards and wearing the biggest grin she's ever seen on him, she's waiting at the table, the slate tucked carefully away, her hands folded neatly in front of her. Even though she's smiling faintly, the look of delight slips off his face, replaced with the look of dutiful blankness that he used to wear before the Calamity. It stings, but she hides her cringe. She deserves his old attitude while she's wearing her own princess face.

"I've thought about it," she says. "And you seem pent up here. Unhappy. It seems as if you're ready to begin adventuring again."

He wipes grunge from his forehead with his forearm and takes a seat across from her. With her choice of conversation topic, his posture loosens as if his strings have been cut. "You have no idea," he says.

She nods. "I honestly haven't given much thought to what our next steps should be, but I suppose we should—"

"Oh, I have plenty of ideas."

She blinks at him, startled. "You...do?"

"Yeah. Okay, first of all, I want to go back to the shrine of resurrection. You said there's some sort of challenge there, but I got too busy and completely forgot. Sorry. There's also a challenge in the Lost Woods. I don't know what that's about either, but the koroks mentioned making my sword stronger. Then Klinton, from Fang and Bone? He said he'd give me some medals for fighting all the big monsters. The Hinoxes and the Taluses and the big sand things, and I'm figuring that if there are no more Blood Moons they might actually stay dead."

It's a lot to take in, and it's all so different from her own vague thoughts to visit the scattered tribes of Hyrule and unite them under a single banner, to rebuild Castle Town, to pray at the sacred springs, to get back to her research on the Divine Beasts. In fact, her own plans don't form well enough to express event hat much until she hears of Link's plans to do something completely different. Her head spins. All she can latch onto is, "You mean a Molduga?"

Link snaps and points at her. "Molduga. I can never remember that."

"Link, I think most of these challenges were to help you become stronger, so you could fight Calamity Ganon. Will it still be worthwhile to pursue them now?"

"Why wouldn't it? And if I get stronger, then I'm going to get way better at killing Lynels, and I don't see how you can rebuild Hyrule with Lynels running around."

She has to concede that point.

He grins at her. "There's also treasure," he says. "I heard that somewhere, there's a rabbit hood."

She shakes her head as if shaking back her hair. "And what is that?"

"I don't know. I think it might help me run faster."

Zelda tries to keep her eyebrows from wrinkling in too much confusion.

"And you can help. Oh, this will be great! You can help me find all the monsters, because I definitely don't know where all those Hinoxes are."

"Well, I hardly know where they are."

"No, but you're good at research and stuff. People saying, 'I heard there's a Hinox up that mountain. Or was it _that_ mountain? Or was it a mountain where the light shines on it at a certain time of day that makes it look like a parrot?' You're good at that kind of thing. Riddles and stuff."

"I am?"

"Yeah. With your research and your logic."

She can feel the struggle to keep her forehead smooth getting away from her, and she takes a deep breath. "Alright. How—How should we begin with all...this?"

He thinks for a moment, drumming his fingers against the table. "I think I should go to the shrine of resurrection first. I can glowing-string-travel there and see what's up. The Great Plateau is hard to get to on foot, and I don't know what will be there, so it's probably best if you stay here."

She takes a deep breath through her nose and says nothing.

"I mean, if that's okay with you?"

"I'm quite capable of managing for myself for a few days." That's not true at all, but the thought of him thinking she needs constant supervision has her hackles up. As does the thought of him running off to adventure without her. Who does he think he is?

"It's just that I remember..." His eyes close as he tries to draw up the memory. "I remember that you gave me the slip one time, and I remember this...panic." He pats his chest as if that's a more descriptive method of communication than words.

She stares at him. _One time_? She gave him the slip at least a dozen times, but he remembers _one_. How much does he remember? Apparently not enough to remember that for over a year he was practically her shadow and would never dream of wandering off on an adventure and leaving her unprotected.

 _Unprotected from what?_ she asks herself. The war is over. And since when does she care about being protected?

"When I'm done there, I'll come straight back, and we can head out to the Lost Woods if you like. So maybe you can see if you can find anything on Hinoxes and Taluses between here and there. I know there's a Talus up by Ralis pond. I already got him once, but then there was a Blood Moon." He shrugs.

"Right," she says. "Do you want to tell me about some of the other Taulses you've found?"

He reaches out a hand and for a moment she doesn't understanding him. Then she blinks, pulls out the Sheikah slate, and hands it over.

"I marked some of them," he says,

She stands to move around the table and watch over his shoulder as he pulls up the map function. "Some?"

He cringes. "After a while I just got lazy."

Of course.

He points at a marking that looks like a skull. "That's a Hinox. That's a Talus. Lynel."

"Well," she says, taking back the slate and faking a smile that he returns a hundred fold. "I'll mark these on a map of my own and see what else I can dig up. Since...you'll be taking the slate." She tries to keep that last part from sounding like a question.

She succeeds, because he says, "And I'll pack!"

He bounces to his feet. He's still disgusting from his last round of monster hunting.

#

Link is gone with a grin and a wave in the morning, standing out in the yard in front of the house, because he thinks it's rude to warp (he refuses to call it anything other than glowing-string-travel) from inside the house. Wearing his dirty boots in the house and tracking mud and monster guts inside is fine, but teleporting is gouache.

He vanishes, taking her Shiekah slate along with him.

She sighs as dramatically as she can, because there's no one around to see her. For the first time in a century, she's truly alone.

Link's bright red shirt sits on top of the stacks of clean, folded laundry on the kitchen table. She decides to wear it for no other reason than that it's there. It's a little tight. But it must be tighter on Link, and he doesn't seem to mind.

She waits a solid two hours to show she can before taking her notes and her new map up to the tech lab. She doesn't want to look too desperate for company, but she kind of is. Being alone with her thoughts is not a pleasant experience, and maybe she should be grateful that Link has been so disruptive and entertaining lately instead of following her silently and letting her ramble.

Purah welcomes her in and sweeps her into a discussion of the experiments Zelda wishes to do on the cryonis rune. Purah talks for an hour before Zelda can bring up that she needs a map and a way to find Hinoxes, and—oh yes—that Link has absconded with the slate.

Purah swears.

They bring a map down from the wall, and waste no time drawing all over it. Purah grumbles the whole time about how there's functionality to mark the spots of monsters this on the slate and how if only they had the slate they could test her theories about using its searching capabilities. Maybe they could hook it up to a tower and find all the monsters in a whole region. Maybe. Wouldn't that be great? If only they had the slate.

It's exactly what Zelda doesn't need.

"What is he even doing with it?" Purah whines. "Besides traveling, and he can do that fine without the slate. He _has_ a horse."

"There's a challenge," Zelda says with as much calm as she can muster. "I'm sure the slate's abilities will come in handy. We want him back quickly and uninjured, after all."

"He could do with some injury, if you ask me. _Taking the slate_. When he knows we're using it!"

Before she can stop herself, she throws her pencil to the table. "I am aware he took the slate. Thank you. I agree it is frustrating, but what do you expect me to do about it?"

Purah rolls her shoulders backwards and gives her a haughty look while wobbling her head back and forth in a way that would be devastating from a judgmental older woman, but looks ridiculous on a judgemental child.

Zelda ticks up her chin. "I won't be able to do whatever I wish forever. It's a fantasy, and it's good that it's being disrupted before I fall too far into," she searches for the correct word, waving her hand as she does. "Unproductive patterns. I am to be queen. I must rebuild Hyrule. I should not be _canoodling_ about with the slate when there's work to be done. It's more useful in Link's hands."

Purah stares at her, as if waiting for her to realize what she's just said, to make the connection to the voice of her father that still lives in her psyche. As if she was not painfully aware of the origin of her outburst. When Zelda's face remains stony, Purah gives a slow, drawn out, "Wooooow."

Zelda reclaims her pencil and returns to the map. "I'm not in the mood, Purah."

"Well, _that's_ obvious."

Zelda marks another spot from her hastily scribbled notes onto the map.

"You don't want to do that," Purah says. "You don't want to do Link's Kill All the Monsters plan either."

Zelda sighs. "It's necessary."

"Sure. But it's boring."

That is very true.

Purah props her elbows on the table and leans her chin into her hands, already moving past any offense at Zelda's rudeness. "Seems to me the question is: what do you want to do?"

She needs to do so many things. She needs to inspect the divine beasts, see if she can get them functioning again. If her hypotheses are correct, a new pilot will ring them back to life. She needs to pay her respects to the various races of Hyrule and announce that she has returned and confirm that Ganon has at last been sealed, and she needs to do it in a way that doesn't make her look imperious. She ought to revisit the springs and thank the Goddess for giving her power when she needed it most, for giving her the strength to hold Ganon back for so long. It's only by the Goddess' grace that they succeeded in the end, and she needs to pay respects. She needs to rebuild the castle and reform the military and establish safe trade routes and appoint a council and plan her coronation.

Purah's reading her mind. "Not what you think you _need_ to do. Not what the king would want you to do, or what Impa would want you to do, or even what I want you to do. What do _you_ want to do?"

"That hardly matters."

Puah shrugs. "It's not like we're making plans. We're just talking. Having some fantasy time."

Zelda doesn't appreciate having her words repeated back to her.

But what does she want to do? She wants to bury herself in this tech lab, picking apart ancient machines and putting them back together. She wants Link to have his own Sheikah slate so he stops borrowing hers, and maybe (it's a long shot, but if we're talking about what she wants, then why not discuss long shots), just maybe, she could build a new slate, a second slate. She wants to not just revive the ancient technology enough to use it, but she want to use what the ancient Sheikah have given her to build her own technology. New technology. She wants to be able to ride to Kakariko without having a panic attack at the sight of graveyard of guardians.

At that she blinks. She lifts her eyes to Purah, who's waiting impatiently for an answer.

"I want to gather the remains of the guardians. They should all be brought to a single research station. Somewhere where they can be secured and studied."

Purah's eyes light, her chin popping off her hands.

"We should begin," Zelda says more strongly, "with the remains at Fort Hateno."

Purah has out her notepad, scribbling frantically and not looking at Zelda as she asks. "And where should we collect them all? Is it time to rebuild the old tech lab by the castle?"

"No," Zelda says. "Even if we rebuild Castle Town, if there's an army of guardians in sight—no matter how inactive—no one will want to repopulate it."

Purah hums in agreement, still scribbling. "Then where?"

Zelda's eyes wander the map. Her next thought is the North Akkala tech lab where Robbie is. Surely, he'd be thrilled at the idea of all the guardians coming to him. And it is a remote location. But on the other hand, it's a very long way to cart hundreds of guardian carcasses, and that would make the venture more expensive. And even though North Akkala is remote, it's also flat. If the guardians came back to life, they'd be far from any settlements, but they'd also be free to run wild. No, she needs somewhere secure.

With that thought, her eyes fall on the perfect spot.

"What's the state of the Forgotten Temple these days?"

Purah looks up from her notes and beams.


	6. Chapter 6

A few days later, a light streaks across the sky. It's a blue ball, larger than a shooting star, a trail dragging behind it. It comes from the Southwest and flies across the western sky to land to the north. Probably in Zora's Domain, but there's no way to tell. There's no sound of impact. No shake of the earth. No billowing cloud of evil rising beyond the mountains.

Zelda bolts up the last switchback to the top of the hill to see if she can spot the landing from higher ground. She races into the tech lab when she finds no evidence that the comet ever existed.

"Did you see that? There was a light in the sky. It landed near the Zora's Domain. I think it came from the Great Plateau."

"Let's hope it was Link finishing up, so he can get his butt back here soon," Purah says from the floor.

Zelda only now takes in the sight before her. Purah and Symin are frantically gathering up the papers strewn across the lab. There's a bucket of soapy water and a rag abandoned half way through washing one of Purah's chalk markings off the floor. The table is covered in books that were yesterday in precarious towers. Symin's hair is slipping from its knot, or perhaps it was never put in its knot correctly in the first place.

"What's happening?" Zelda asks.

"Impa's happening." Purah stands, but the pages in her arms are so off balance that they slip loose and fall. She scrambles for them, but only manages to mix them more in the air. In a whirlwind of paper, she stamps her foot and shouts, "It's not like I wasn't going to write to her! Of course, I was! She needed to know where you were and that the Calamity was over! How was I supposed to know she'd want to come here? She's never ever come here! Even when she was younger, she never visited. She hasn't left Kakariko in thirty years!" She drops to the floor in a flounce to gather up papers again.

The color drains from Zelda's face. "Impa's coming here? Why?"

Purah slaps her fists onto her thighs in exasperation. "I'll give you two guesses!"

The leader of the Sheikah, who have sworn themselves in service to the royal family, an oath they've kept through a hundred years with an absent monarch, is traveling across the country to greet the last surviving member of the royal family and heir to the throne of Hyrule. Impa is coming to guide Zelda through her coronation and Hyrule's reconstruction, a process Impa has probably been planning for a century.

It's an accident. Completely outside her control in a moment of weakness, but Zelda breathes, "Oh no."

Purah pauses her pouting long enough to give Zelda a pitying look, and that's enough to snap her out of her own self-pity.

Zelda shakes herself. Sets her shoulders. Pushes down the tremble in her arms and the tremble in her voice. "Well. Then I suppose then we must make the place tidy."

Purah refuses to let them re-shelve the books unless they're re-shelved properly, the specifics behind which are a mystery to both Zelda and Symin. Purah won't even let Zelda put them in the correct general area for more specific sorting later. "Well, they must go somewhere! They can't stay on the table!" "I'll _get_ to them!" But Zelda does not believe for a second the Purah will get to them, not with how she's fussing frantically over a pile of journals. And Zelda's heart cannot deal with her hands sitting idle. She's balancing on a wire, ready to break down sobbing, ready to let loose an animalistic scream, and she has no idea which one will spring loose first. She ends up hauling most of the books into Purah's room upstairs, where they'll be out of sight and Purah can shelve them more leisurely at a later date. It's tiring work that leaves her breathless and causes her arms to burn.

Purah insists they can't put away the loose papers until she's sorted them, so Zelda and Symin spend far too long turning the work bench into a filing system, squinting at pages to make sense of them, then placing them in piles as best they can as quick as they can. Once they're sorted (and much more organized than Purah's floor system), Symin puts them neatly into folders and Purah drops those folders haphazardly into a chest. She has to sit on the chest to get it to close.

Purah refuses to let them remove the guardian hanging from a net on the ceiling. That's probably for the best. They'll only manage to hurt themselves trying. Purah throws a fit, but eventually gives in to scrubbing the floor, but she follows Symin as he scrubs, making careful and annoying note of where her chalk marks were. Zelda tries to stay out of the way, throwing herself into removing cobwebs from above the bookshelves and scrubbing the guidance stone and the work bench until they shine.

She won't be able to turn the blue fabric Link bought into a suitable dress before the Sheikah arrive. There's no time and her hands are shaking. Purah makes sure everyone knows what a strain it is to disrupt her frantic tidying, but she rushes upstairs and returns a few minutes later with Sheikah garb from her young-lady days. Zelda doesn't ask how recent those days were. With some alterations, it should fit. Zelda leaves the Sheikah to their cleaning and takes off down the hill to start the adjustments as soon as humanly possible.

She runs so hard her lungs are burning. She runs so hard she thinks she might be sick. She runs as if she can outrun the future and the past and keep only the present for herself.

She stumbles into the house and pulls up short.

Link's supplies are spread over the table.

She takes a minute to pull her panting under control. To swallow down her gasps and be quiet so she won't wake him with her embarrassing behavior. When she has her noises under control (if not her heart rate), she sneaks upstairs to find him passed out on the bed. He looks unharmed, not that she can really make an accurate assessment of his well-being from ten feet away. He's not covered in blood, anyway. He has good color in his cheeks.

The sight of him calms her heart better than her time gathering herself by the door. He's back. He's back safe. Somehow, that makes things easier.

As she turns to let him sleep, his voice stops her. "You're wearing my shirt."

His eyes are open.

She runs her hands over her stomach, and says, "I like it." She takes a seat on the side of the bed, one leg folded up so she can face him.

"Does this mean your mopey gray phase is over?"

"What do you mean?"

"You made yourself the most boring gray shirt I've ever seen."

"I'll have you know, that shirt is very well tailored. It's fashionable. And functional."

His lips twitch. "It was the color of a tombstone. Like you were trying to blend in."

"I was trying to blend in."

He shakes his head. "Blend into the dirt and let the ground swallow you whole. And it didn't work anyway. You'll stand out no matter what you wear. You're too shiny."

She doesn't know what to say to that.

He taps his fingers against the hem by her hip. "This suits you better though. It's like you. Vibrant."

He's looking at her then, as if he sees something in her that she doesn't.

Heat rises up her neck and into her cheeks, and she turns away to clear her throat. "Unfortunately, you won't have time to get used to it." She holds up the fabric in her lap. It's become wrinkled in her hands.

"Why not?"

She sighs and tries to smile. "Because Impa is on her way."

He pops up on an elbow. "Impa's coming? Here?"

"Purah received a letter this morning, saying she would travel to Hateno as soon as possible."

He calculates. "She won't come alone, so they'll have to pack for everyone. And—Impa actually _is_ old—she won't make the trip fast. Probably another two or three days at least."

"That was Purah's prediction as well."

He nods. Then, "What does that mean? Her coming here?"

"I don't know," she says. But she does. And so does Link. It means that someone is finally going to insist she take the throne and deal with all the politics and weight and restrictions that that entails. It means her life will refocus on her duty and the role she was born to play but didn't choose.

She knows this. She doesn't feel like talking about it.

"Scootch over," she says, dropping the Sheikah outfit to the floor and lying down on the bed, facing Link. It won't take her two to three days to alter the Sheikah outfit. She can take a nap. "How was your challenge?"

He smiles. It's a funny thing viewed from so close. There are nuances she's never noticed before. It makes her want to see under what repeated conditions his cheek will twitch again. The excited joy of new discovery and new experimentation makes her heart beat quicker.

"Good," he says. "Real good. A new pedestal rose up out of the ground in the shrine of resurrection and gave me a new weapon. It was like nothing I've ever seen. Kind of like a trident, but with a short grip. When I picked it up, it was like it sucked all the life out of me. Like the Master Sword, but worse. I felt weak, and I had to fight camps of monsters like that."

"And that was a good challenge?"

"Yeah. Some new shrines popped up too. They look different."

"Different how?"

"Like sharper. On top. They came out of the ground, so I guess they had to break through."

She thinks about that. "Do you think they were always there? Underground?"

"I don't think they magically formed two days ago."

She hates how much she doesn't know about the shrines. It's haunting in a way, how they've sat untouched and undiscovered so for so very long. How they are spread beneath all Hyrule, and how they'll never know if they've found them all.

"I saw a light in the sky this morning," she says. "It seemed like it came from the Great Plateau. Was that you?"

He takes the slate from his hip. He hadn't bothered to remove it, although the Master Sword is beside the bed and his boots are thankfully at the top of the stairs. He rolls onto his back and holds the slate above them, so she can look at the map with him. Four targets blink at them from the different corners of Hyrule. They provide no other information but a location. "There were four lights," he says.

"What's at these points?"

"I don't know," he says. He murmurs it. As if it bothers him that he doesn't know. Like he'd already be there, if he wasn't…here.

With her.

"Will you go investigate?"

She has to admit she's curious. About the mystery of it all. About the lights in the sky. About the new shrines, shrines even Link has yet to step into. She would be much more interested providing assistance with shrine exploration than with monster hunting, but—

"I don't think we should make any plans until Impa shows up."

She takes a deep breath and rolls onto her side, bowing her head into Link's bicep so she doesn't have to face the world until...until after a nap. He rolls toward her as well, so her forehead is against his chest. He drops an arm over her, and she stiffens and sucks in a breath when something prods at her rear. He's trying to slip the slate into her back pocket. That…won't do. Without looking up (because her face is very red again) she takes it from his hands and slips it under their pillow.

His arm goes heavy over her waist. He presses his face to the top of her head for a moment before pulling back, leaving her reeling and frozen and trying to figure out if he just kissed her. No. Surely not. He takes a deep breath like a sigh, like he's smelling her and doesn't mind the scent of her hair.

She takes a hesitant breath in as well, hoping the scent of armoranth and Hyrule herb will ease her butterfly heart, will make sense of the quiet and the chaos she's found here with Link.

Link smells like bomb arrows and monster guts.

#

The day they expect Impa to arrive, they go about their day as usual. Except Zelda dresses in her Sheikah dress. It's in four layers of white cloth that used to have ribbons and sashes of purple and red, now dyed blue at the dye shop. They match her hair kerchief. And now she and Link will match again, when he puts on his Champion's tunic, which is folded under his arm.

They head up the hill to the tech lab like always, except they do so with a silent tension building between them. She wonders if Link feels as she does. Maybe he's disappointed he'll have to stand silently behind her again, to follow her everywhere and no longer run off on his adventures. She wonders if these days he's still capable of following. She wonders if he even realizes that Impa will expect that of him.

Like always, Zelda heads into the lab, wildly hoping to get some last few moments with the equipment. She doesn't even know what she would do at this point. Link peels off at the door, heading up the spiraling stairs to keep a look out.

Whatever restlessness she feels inside, is magnified eight-fold inside the lab where Purah and Symin are trying to figure out what to do with the furniture. Purah presses a rag into one of Zelda's hands, a spray bottle that smells of alcohol into the other and puts Zelda on window washing duty.

"Where's Link?" Purah asks. "We have to offer Impa lunch! Symin, get Link to make lunch!"

Symin slips outside and makes lunch.

Link charges into the workroom. "They're at the base of the mountain."

Everyone scrambles. Link's struggling out of his baldric to throw on his champion's tunic and then put the baldric back on as Purah pulls off Zelda's kerchief and the shrieks at what she finds beneath, which startles Link into drawing his sword, his half-strapped-on baldric clattering to the floor.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR HAIR?!"

"IT WAS DAMAGED IN THE BATTLE AGAINST CALAMITY GANON!"

"THAT'S NOT DAMAGE, THAT'S AN ATROCITY!"

"THAT IS NOT HELPFUL."

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME SOONER? WE COULD HAVE DONE SOMETHING!"

"LIKE WHAT?"

Purah throws her hands in wild circles, spluttering for an answer. "I DON'T KNOW! IF I'D HAD TIME, MAYBE I WOULD HAVE HAD AN IDEA!"

It's then that something lands on her head from behind, and she spins to find Link's hands hovering over her head.

"SNAP! PERFECT!"

When the Sheikah entourage arrives at the tech lab, Zelda will be wearing a diamond diadem, meant to protect against guardians.

He gives her a brief smile, and she clings to that moment of eye contact like she's drowning and it will keep her afloat.

Purah shouts, "LINK! GO!"

Link sheathes his sword, which is still not on his back, and charges off the mountain, throwing himself into a swan dive before popping open his paraglider. He has to meet the Sheikah and guide them to the tech lab instead of letting them stand around in the middle of town, drawing attention from the locals as they wait for Zelda to make a grand appearance or something.

It takes them an hour to climb the hill, and Zelda, Purah, and Symin stand in a little row right in front of the tech lab and watch their long trek. There are four horses and two donkeys, and in addition to Impa, there are four other Sheikah. Link leads them through town, obviously wishing they would move faster, trying his best not to get too far ahead of them. That would be rude. Eventually, one of the Sheikah steps forward to walk beside him, and they fall into a conversation where Link is using his hands a great deal.

"Did your letter include the fact that you're a child?" Symin asks.

"How rude! Never speak about a woman's age."

Symin sighs and turns back to the slow progress being made up the hill. "That's a no then."

"It wouldn't kill Impa to ask how my life is going, you know. It's her own fault if she doesn't know."

"I don't think she would have thought to ask if you've de-aged yourself."

"No, but she could ask after my arthritis, and then I'd say, 'Nope!' And she could say, 'How'd you get it to go away?' And I'd say, 'Let me tell you!'"

Zelda zones out. She lifts her face up to the sun and lets it heat her skin, lets it heat her hair until it's nearly uncomfortable.

Purah elbows her right before Link and his friend turn through the last switch back, and Zelda straightens her posture. Her diplomatic, serene smile locks into place like a deadbolt.

Impa truly is ancient. The donkey she's riding has a special saddle that looks a bit like a pagoda with cushions for her to sit upon and a cover, like an umbrella or a tent, to block the sun. In her memories, Impa is taller than Zelda. Proud and imperious. This Impa has shrunk, her back bowed. If she wasn't wearing her hat, she would probably be of a height with Purah. Two of her Sheikah guards assist her in dismounting, and it takes her several steps before Zelda can recognize the imperiousness.

Link slips into place behind her. He stands side by side with Purah and Symin who retreated a step when Zelda wasn't looking.

The other Sheikah form ranks behind Impa, who is looking Zelda up and down, searching for cracks in her royal figure and pleased that she finds none.

Standing before her, Impa bows low from the waist. The rest of the Sheikah kneel, then bow all the way to the ground. Anxiety rips through Zelda, so she tips her chin higher to counter it.

"Your highness," Impa says, her voice quavering, but full and carrying. "We are overwhelmed with gratitude for your defeat of Calamity Gannon. You have lifted a great blight from this kingdom. We are relieved that you are safe and with us once more, and we are prepared for you to lead us out of the darkness and restore Hyrule to her former glory!"

Zelda bows her head in respect. "Thank you for your kind words, and for your loyalty through so many difficult years." She raises her head. "Your faith in me is humbling."

"Long live Princess Zelda!" shouts one of the Sheikah. It startles her. The rest join in in wordless cheers.

Impa smiles, and steps forward to take Zelda's hands in her own. "Oh, my child," she says, lower, more conversational now. More emotional. "It's so good to have you back."

It's so like the Impa she remembers, and yet her hands and tougher and bonier. Her voice is not the same. Tears well up in Zelda's eyes. "It's very good to see you, Impa."

Impa presses a hand to Zelda's cheek, and Zelda can't help but lean into it.

"Come," Impa announces. "There is still much that must be done."

#

The princess was nothing like what Symin was expecting. For the stories passed down from Purah and Impa and Robbie, he expected her to sweep in like a ball of white light, for her to wave her hand and all the ancient tech strewn about the lab would magically come to life. He expected her to grace him with a benevolent smile in which he could feel the love of the Goddess and for her to announce that everything would be fine now. That she would take it from there.

"She had such a knack with the tech," Robbie always said with a sigh, implying that everyone else in his general vicinity was completely useless, and also couldn't she just finish the Calamity off already? What was taking so long?

"She was breathtaking," Impa always said. "So graceful. So brave. She walked into that terrible castle while red clouds billowed overhead without a single doubt in her mind, and it looked as if her feet never touched the ground."

"Of course, I'm going to wear this eye shadow," Purah once told him. "The princess told me it looks _dramatic_." She'd wiggled her fingers in front of her eyes as she'd said it. As if the princess had told her this last week and not ninety years ago. As if the princess was aware that the color made Purah's sagging eyelids look deeper and had confirmed that that was a good thing.

Like all good Sheikah, Symin was raised knowing his duty was to the crown before all others, knowing he would devote his life to the princess' service, that if asked to give up that life for her, he would without question.

He was not expecting the girl who walked into his lab that first day, half hiding behind Link, looking tired and worn like all the other Hylian girls in Hateno. He wasn't expecting her to hesitate. He wasn't expecting the swell of emotion that set her lip trembling. This golden woman of legend who had held back the darkness for a hundred years turned out to be a scared, confused girl.

It made him want to protect her, to guide her through this new world which must be so overwhelming. It made him want to cheer her, and for a while he succeeded with talk of the Sheikah Slate's performance during Link's adventures. The upgrades he'd managed for the basic runes. The way Link had managed to have the thing in his hands or on his hip twenty-four-seven without discovering that the camera could flip so he could take a picture of himself. She got so caught up in her questioning that she was suddenly writing away in a journal, appearing from the ether with her magic powers, or handed to her by Purah without anyone noticing. She interrogated Link about the towers, the questions coming too fast for him to answer more than one in three. Link seemed accustomed to the ferocity of her questioning, and she seemed content in the few answers he was able to provide.

In that moment, Symin had understood. The princess was brilliant, and the princess was driven. And, yes, in that moment she was beautiful—in his biased opinion.

They'd had a very fun week.

But then Impa arrived after her long trek from Kakariko with an entourage of Sheikah, who swelled into the lab and knelt at the sight of her. And the princess retreated back into herself, once again hiding away all the drive and enthusiasm that made her special, that made her glow. And Link turned quiet again. And Impa lay out the outline of what would happen to crown Zelda queen. For Zelda to reunite the fractured kingdom under her flag. Which officials she needed to meet with. What villages needed to be brought back into the fold. What factions needed to be brought to heel. The castle, as the seat and symbol of her power, must be rebuilt immediately.

Symin knew better than to say a word. But he'd traded a look with Link, who stood with him against the back wall, his shoulders back and his spine straight and his champion's tunic thrown back on for the first time since he'd gotten back. Just like Symin, Link had known better than to say anything. But that one look had said enough:

They both preferred Zelda when she was not a princess.


	7. Chapter 7

They will spend some time in Hateno preparing. Zelda needs a few dresses, after all. They must go through policy decisions with a fine toothed comb. They must practice some speeches. Then they will travel to Zora's Domain-Zelda and Link and three of the Sheikah escort-and Zelda will announce her presence. She'll confirm that the Calamity is over, and she and King Dorephan will sit down to discuss how the Zora will fit in the new Hyrulian reunification. Impa assures her that, for the Zora, the Calamity was that long ago. They have, of course, carried on under the assumption that Zelda would return. After that, they will visit Goron City, Kakariko, the Rito Village, and Gorudo Town.

Zelda can feel a tension behind her, as if Link is trying to get her attention. But, when she turns around, he is still as a statue, his face blank.

They end their discussions after the sun has long set. Impa stays at the tech lab, taking over Symin's room. Only one member of her entourage stays to wait on her. The rest, along with Symin, head down to the inn for rooms. Link and Zelda walk down with them in absolute silence. The Sheikah are too respectful to speak to her. Their footsteps are unnaturally silent. Thankfully, they have the horses with them, who clomp and snrtle and clank. Thankfully, Link is being especially noisy as he tromps down the mountain and into the inn to arrange accommodations. She can't help but think this is a preview of their trip to Zora's domain: Silent and tense and lonely.

Once the rest of the Sheikah have disappeared inside and out of view, Symin offers her a smile. He gives her shoulder a squeeze. She's been so grateful for even the smallest physical contact lately, it's embarrassing.

Link reappears. They head home. Still in silence. But this one is more thoughtful and less that they aren't allowed to speak. Inside the house, she takes off the diamond tiara and digs her fingers into her hair, shaking it out from the roots.

Link hesitates near the door.

"What is it?" she asks.

He watches her a few moments. Then, "I want to show you something."

"Oh? What?"

He shakes his head and grabs for his bow and shield off the table. "Get dressed and meet me out front."

"Where are we going?"

"Akkala."

"We can't just—" but he's already stepped out, strapping on his equipment.

Zelda _tisks_. Akkala! That's three days away. Impa has just arrived, and it's late, and he wants her to run off with him to Akkala of all places.

She changes clothes. She assumes that by "get dressed" he means into more causal apparel. Red shirt it is then.

"Should I bring my bag?" she asks, almost mockingly when she meets him out front. "Some food perhaps?"

He shakes his head. "Quick trip."

She honestly doesn't understand him some days. Most days.

Link has out the Sheikah slate, which lights the planes of his face in a blue glow. He leans in to show her the map, the two of them bowing their heads together. "It's a bit of a walk once we get there, but I'm hoping for good weather."

He slings an arm around her waist and pulls her to his chest, and she gasps as she crashes into him, her hands balled into fists and wedged between them along with the Sheikah slate. Her mind reels, and he's looking down at her from just a breath away, and her first absurd thought is, "Oh good," and her second thought is, "He could have done that much more gracefully." And then she's left to think maybe it's her who's making the moment awkward and uncomfortable, with her poor balance and her forearms pressed against his chest like a shield. She decides to pretend everything's fine and lets her eyes half close, her face tilts toward him, her heart races because maybe this is exactly what she needs after the day she's had and before the days that will follow.

He jiggles the Sheikah Slate between them, so it taps against her collarbone. "You should hold this with one hand."

She blinks at him, coming back to herself, and how he looks completely unaffected by their position, and he hasn't been planning some big romantic gesture, but instead—

She stiffens. "You want to _warp_ there?"

He grins. From this far away, in the blue glow of the Sheikah Slate, it's breathtaking. "Glowing-string-travel is the quickest."

"Warping," she corrects. "But—Surely—"

"It'll be fine."

"You never said it could transport two people simultaneously!"

"I've never tried it before."

"But how would that even work!?"

"I don't know. I figured we could both hold onto it too, and we could hold onto each other, and it'll take us both."

"That's hardly scientific," she mutters.

He just shrugs.

"What if it doesn't work?" she asks.

"If it only takes me, then I can just glowing-string-travel—"

"Warp."

"—right back and we call it a night. But I think it'll work."

"What if it only warps me?"

"Then you come right back here. You know how it works."

She does. But. But this seems like something they should study in a controlled environment. Multiple test runs. Safety measures. Control systems. Her slate is a delicate instrument of unimaginable value with capabilities hitherto unheard of. And Link just wants to wing it. Link just wants to use her slate however he sees fit even though it's hers, and she's never even used it to warp before, and it's horrible that her first time has the potential for dire consequences.

He lowers his head even closer to whisper, and her mouth goes dry for completely illogical reasons. "Come on an adventure with me."

She stares up into eyes that are exciting and pulling and lit a completely different shade of blue from usual.

She gives in with a huff, squirming her arms out from between them, and, after a moment's awkward consideration, wraps an arm tight around his neck—so tight she's practically on tiptoes, so close her cheek nearly touches his. She takes hold of the other side of the slate.

"Hold on," he whispers.

Her fingers bite tight into the fabric on his shoulder. She squeezes her eyes closed.

And then she's gone, the sound of humming energy in her ears and a bright light against her eyelids. For a second, she can't breathe. She can't feel the ground beneath her feet, can't feel the slate in her hand, can't feel Link against her. It feels like walking into a freezing cave. It feels like every part of her is infinitely far from every other part.

And then it stops, and she's standing on solid ground, and there is actual wind in her hair, and Link's hot breath brushes her face, his shoulder under her fingernails.

He pulls back grinning even as her knees wobble beneath her. "It worked!"

The moon has just risen, lighting up a sloping hillside below them that wraps around a black pit of a lake. Zelda squints down at welcoming lights that float a hundred feet above the water.

"What's that?"

"That," he says, "is Tarrey Town." He steps off the shrine platform, pulling her arm so she follows him. "It's what the new Hyrule can look like."

She hurries to catch up, falling into step beside him, at which point he releases her arm. She's disappointed. She scolds herself for the feeling.

"Usually, I'd glide down there," he says, "but trying _that_ with two people really does sound like a bad idea."

"I haven't heard of Tarrey Town."

"It's new. When I first came by here, it was just a rogue goddess statue and a bunch of boulders. But Bolson decided it would be a good place for a settlement. You should talk to him about your construction needs."

"And he built this town in the last year?"

"I helped."

She looks up and even though it's dark, the pride in his voice makes his smile abundantly clear.

"You?"

"Well, I financed it. And brought in the people they needed. It's a multicultural place. They've got the buildings and the infrastructure, but they also have shops and little families and events. They even had a wedding a couple months ago. It was bizarre. You would have loved it." She has no idea what that means, and wants to know more, but he's still talking. "Tonight, though, is the end of the work week, and so they'll have a party. They have a party every week."

As they come closer, and as she's listening for it, the sounds of music prickle at her ears. The sounds of laughter. Her pace quickens to get a better view.

They have to cross a narrow land bridge to reach the town. It's a bit daunting, but then the town center comes into view—the whole town revolving around a goddess statue, which greets them as they enter town and promises to bid them farewell when they leave. And it's crowded, more crowded than anywhere she's been in a hundred years, and she wonders how the population of Tarrey Town compares to that of Hateno or if Hateno is just more spread out and less prone to socializing. An accordion player runs off a jig, perched on a low wall beside a wooden dance floor. Vendors of mouthwatering kebabs and fruit frozen into cubes shout to passing customers. Dozens of people mingle with steins of beer in their hands. It feels like a fairy tale, like a different world, and she can't help the awe that's probably showing on her face.

"Link!" someone shouts, and then at least eight more people pick up the cheer. "Link!" And suddenly they're surrounded by people. A Goron is slapping a hand on Link's back so his knees nearly buckle, and a man with a bushy mustache and a tall, furry hat is shaking his hand with rapid enthusiasm. Suddenly, there are two small children hanging off Link, one in full piggy back, one hanging off his bicep as he listens to a Rito talk about a new shipment of arrows.

"This is Zelda," Link says, half-shouting over the crowd. Zelda. Not the princess.

And the crowd turns on her, shouting, "Zelda!" as a dozen people descend upon her to shake her hand and speak all at once. "What a beautiful name!" "Where are you traveling from?" "You came at a great time, the party's just getting started!" "Any friend of Link's—" "Have you tried the kabobs?"

Within a few minutes, she has a kebob in her hand. It smells delicious enough that she tastes it despite the fact that it's clearly boar, and she hasn't been able to handle the gameyness lately.

Everyone's smiling at her, and it feels completely unearned. They don't know who she is beyond Link's friend. They don't know she's royalty. They don't know her part in holding back and sealing the darkness. They're not even thinking of the darkness. Not tonight with the moon rising and the music playing, and someone said something about fireworks.

"I didn't know that voe had friends," says a Gerudo woman from over her shoulder. Zelda turns to face her, and the woman looks her up and down appraisingly. Someone presses a drink into her hand, and she looks over her shoulder to see that it's Link. The children are now battling for who gets to sit on his shoulders in a game of chicken with only one person on the bottom. He winks at her before turning back to his conversation, and Zelda's cheeks flame. It's not the best look when she turns back to the Gerudo woman, who smirks at her until Zelda's cheeks heat more.

"I know people who like _him_ , and he does help a bunch of people, but people he confides in or spends time with...that's practically unheard of."

"Yes," Zelda says, "he's mysterious."

"So what's going on there?" The woman ticks a finger between Zelda and over Zelda's shoulder.

"Oh...I...don't...Well..."

"Well, if you figure it out, let me know." The Gerudo woman smiles. "So. Zelda." She holds out the name, rolling it around to memorize it. "Tell me about you."

Zelda takes a bite of kebab so she can have a minute to think. She swallows the bite too fast, and it's too wide for her throat. It squeezes all the way down and lands heavy in her stomach. "I'm just...a researcher. From Hateno."

"What do you research?"

"Ancient technology. Sheikah devices."

The woman makes a face. "Does that mean you work for that old koot at the tech lab? That must be awful."

"Who, Robbie? He isn't so bad," Zelda lies. "I've never found him to be overly unpleasant."

The woman gives and exaggerated groan. "He's the worst. He came down here, all demanding, saying _he'd_ traveled _so far,_ and he _needed_ a spot cleared to view the stalkers in their natural habitat."

"The stalkers?"

"The guardians? The ones that walk? The ones that chase you? There were a couple across the lake. Scurrying around. For some reason, he needed a whole set up to watch them, and then tried to get his dinner comped because it wasn't hot enough, and his room at the inn comped because his bed was too soft for him to get his eight hours of sleep. He also called me 'sweetheart' four times."

Zelda cringes and takes a deep breath. Then, rather than say anything against him, she takes another bite of kebab.

Which is apparently hilarious, as the woman throws her head back and laughs.

Link appears at her side, his face interested and questioning as he glances back and forth between them, hoping someone will tell him what they're laughing about. Zelda still has a chunk of marinated steak in her mouth, and she's determined not to hurt herself swallowing it this time.

"We were just talking about how Zelda's boss is a creep," the woman says.

Link lifts his eyebrows at her, but her mouth is still too full to answer the question he can't ask. _Her boss_?

She jerks her head north towards where she assumes the tech lab is, and that's all Link needs.

"Did I ever tell you about how the first time I met him, he demanded I strip down to my underwear, so he could look at my scars?"

Zelda chokes on her steak.

The woman shouts, "Eww! Gross! What did you do?"

Link shrugs. "Stripped down to my underwear and let him look at my scars."

The woman shakes her head in disgust. "He took advantage of you." Then to Zelda, "He took advantage of your voe."

She's still choking from the last time, so it's not like she can choke again. Link pats her back.

"Are you going to stand for that?" the woman asks. "You should kill him. You can borrow my sword."

"She can borrow one from me," Link says. "I have more."

The woman rolls her eyes. "No need to brag." Then she spots someone on the other side of the festival and walks away.

Link looks too smug. Zelda glares at him.

"I see you've met Rhondson," he says.

"I didn't catch her name."

"Come meet Greyson," he says, and leads her deeper into town. Greyson the Goron wants to talk with her about more than just Link and the hastily made lies she has to offer, and he answers her questions about Tarrey Town's construction. They're soon joined by Hudson, the man with the mustache who turns out to be the construction specialist behind the buildings.

"I've recently begun the planning stages of a project, actually, and I'd greatly appreciate your expert opinions," she says. They both lean closer, drawn in by her light flattery. "I'm sure you're aware that the darkness surrounding Hyrule Castle has recently been sealed, and this has left the guardians deactivated."

Hudson frowns and mutters that he hadn't noticed, but Greyson's face clears. "Oh! Is that why they all turned off?"

She tries not to show too much pride. "Indeed. But their remains are strewn all across Hyrule. I think it would be prudent to gather them all. Relocate them to somewhere where we can study them."

She can feel them both cooling to the subject, and quickly adds, "Somewhere defensible should they ever revive again. Somewhere we no longer have to look at them day in and day out, forever reminded of the years we lived in fear."

And again they're back on board. "Hmm. I don't know. Where did you have in mind to dump them?"

"The Forgotten Temple in Tanagar Canyon."

They consider this a moment, before Link says, "That's a good place. It'll give the Shekiah plenty of room to work." He nods at her, and she basks in his approval. For once, he actually looks impressed. She realizes that she hasn't mentioned this plan to him.

"You'd have to lower them down the cliff," Greyson says, rubbing his chin.

"It'd be a big project," Hudson says. "There's probably a hundred of them just across the lake. And that's not an easy stroll over to Tanager Canyon."

"Plus a hundred more at Fort Hateno," Link says, "and a hundred more around Hyrule Field and the bunch up by the citadel. Plus all the ones scattered around the country. It might take years to find them all." He sounds thrilled at the prospect.

"Then perhaps we could start small," Zelda says. "Clearing the guardians from Hyrule Field would be a first step towards rebuilding Castle Town."

Hudson whistles. "Rebuilding Castle Town. Now there's a wild idea. Don't know who you'd get who'd want to live there."

"Really?" Zelda asks. "It's centrally located. It's prime farmland. It would be an excellent center for trade."

"Maybe," Greyson says. "But it's still haunted."

"Haunted?"

Hudson clears his throat. "I don't know about Castle Town, but I'm all for throwing those guardians off a cliff. And if you want to put up the funds to build another town, as long as I don't have to live in it, you know who to call."

Greyson nods. "You'd definitely be able to hire some Goron workers to get the guardians out of the way. I can run it past the guys at the South Mine, see if there's any interest."

"Oh. Would you? That would be tremendously helpful. Thank you."

If Gorons could blush, Greyson probably would.

"We'll need carts. And horses. And perhaps a pulley system could be implemented to lower them into the gorge. And perhaps we could create a small portable crane." She wishes she'd thought to bring her journal.

Link's face twitches, and Zelda interrupts herself to say, "You have an idea."

He shakes his head. "You're the one having an idea."

"No. You have an idea, and you're not saying anything to let me have my moment, but you can't keep anything from me. Spill it."

"Vah Rudania," he says.

She blinks at him.

"The Divine Beast?" Greyson says. He scratches the back of his head. "Well, it did calm down recently."

"It's got those..." Link makes a claw gesture with his hands. "Feet."

"And a flat space onto which it can load the guardians," Zelda says. Her eyes have gone glassy picturing it.

"You wouldn't have to pay dozens of workers with carts and cranes."

"And it could climb down into the ravine with ease!" She's miles away at the gate of the Forgotten Temple, overseeing the unloading of the first delivery of disabled guardians.

She shakes her head and the image dissipates. "But we don't have anyone to pilot Vah Rudania. It powered down right after Calamity Ganon was defeated." Right after Daruk's soul ascended to rest with the goddess.

"I...might know a guy."

Link rubs the back of his neck, not making eye contact.

"Who?" she demands.

"His name is Yunbo."

Greyson nods and explains to Zelda, "Yunbo is a descendant of Lord Daruk. He's the boss' right hand. He's the one the boss always shoots at Vah Rudania to shoo it away."

As if that makes sense.

"He can use Daruk's Protection, and he helped me board Rudania in the first place," Link adds.

"And you think he could pilot Vah Rudania?"

Link shrugs. "He might lack some confidence, but he's got my vote."

"I don't know. Last time we...One hundred years ago, the champions were selected through intensive testing. I wouldn't want to give him the job based on his lineage and his friendship with you."

"I'm not even sure you _can_ give away the position," Link says. "Vah Rudania belongs to the Gorons."

"Does it?" Greyson asks.

"Doesn't it?" Link asks.

"I don't know, brother. As long as I've known it, it's been our problem more than our weapon. Personally, I'd rather see the back of it. The boss might just give it to you if you ask."

"He might not if he knew what it could do. If he had a way to control it."

"It's not just a weapon," Zelda says. "It's a tool." How did she not see it before? This was how they were going to rebuild Hyrule!

"Maybe," Greyson agrees.

"I do wonder if the ground will be able to support her off the mountain. The igneous rock can take her weight, and if she leaves footprint craters, no one minds, and there isn't any flora for her to destroy. We'll have to be careful about the route she takes into Central Hyrule. Or she may have magnetic buffers similar to those on Vah Norobis. Her feet distribute her weight so she doesn't sink into the sand, you know."

Link sets his hands on her shoulders and steers her away with an, "Oooookay."

"Wait. I was in the middle of—" She looks over her shoulder to shout, "Thank you! It was a pleasure meeting you both!"

They wave goodbye, entertained by Link dragging her off.

"What are you doing?" she hisses.

He decides not to answer.

"I think this weight distribution problem is worth looking into," she says. "I'd be interested to see the state of Death Mountain after she's stomped around over it for a century—" He stops frog marching her and turns her around to face him. "—We ran tests before and found she was able to climb a near vertical wall. There was some sort of magnetic or suction force on her feet, but we never got around to studying it as we were more concerned with Daruk's control over the mechanisms—" Link's holding her hand and her waist to guide her around now, but they don't really seem to be going anywhere. "—And if she does have an issue, we might be able to borrow the technology from Vah Noboris—" Link nods, still looking her square in the eyes. "—And I have a theory about finding all the guardian remains. I think we can combine the Sheikah Slate's sensor with the towers of each region. Perhaps just as a Litmus test, but I think with some adjustment, we might be able to mark points on the Sheikah slate's map. That would also help in your quest to find all the Hinoxes—"

He's smiling at her.

"What?"

"I'm just glad you're inspired."

She beams and sighs with a great heave of her shoulders. "I'll admit, I haven't felt this enthusiastic in a while."

"I like it."

"I'm glad."

The music comes to an end, and they come to a stop, and everyone around them applauds, and Zelda realizes that they'd been dancing. She hadn't noticed.

Link drops her hand and her waist to clap too, giving her a look from the corner of his eye. He's not going to get away with that. She throws back her shoulders and takes a step closer and parts her lips to demand a second dance where she's actually paying attention and demand he at least acknowledge what a spectacular dancer she is from years of ingrained muscle memory.

"Pardon me."

She spins to see an elderly Zora, hunched over and wrinkled, wearing the heavy necklace of a priest.

"I was wondering if you would grant me a moment of your time."

"Of course," she says, smiling even as she tries to catch her breath and not glare at Link.

The Zora bows and extends his arm over towards a bench on the edge of town. She can feel Link just a few steps behind her. When she sits, Link turns away to give her the impression of privacy, leaning against a lamp post and gesturing at a passing vendor selling roasted nuts in paper cones. But he's guarding her. She bets he can hear every word. It's strangely like how it used to be. And also wildly different.

The Zora creaks and groans into the space beside her. He takes several breaths before beginning his conversation.

"You're wise not to introduce yourself as royalty."

Her head snaps towards him.

A smirk plays at the corners of his mouth, the only parts of his mouth she can see. "Yes. I recognize you, Your Highness. We Zora can live quite a long time."

"I'm honored that you remember me," she tries, attempting to keep her balance and poise when she's so thrown off guard.

"Honor has nothing to do with it. You and your hero are infamous."

She can feel the color draining from her face.

"But I don't hold it against you. I'm one of the few who still remember and yet don't blame you for Mipha's death."

"That's enough, Kapson." Link's voice is quiet. It's not angry or hysteric, or any of the emotions bubbling up Zelda's throat. But his voice does demand to be heard.

"I'm telling her she is wise," the old Zora says. "Wise not to declare herself queen of a country that no longer exists. She is wise not to come here making demands. She is wise to see that the world has changed, and the world no longer needs her." He turns to her then. She can't breathe. "And if you want my advice, you will continue to be wise. You've sacrificed quite enough. You've secured your place in legend. Now do your research. Wear your colorful shirts. I will officiate your wedding. But Hyrule needs no queen."

With that he stands, offers her a respectful bow, and leaves with his hands clasped tightly behind his back.

She stares after him until he vanishes in the crowd, and even then she can't take her eyes from the spot where he vanished. She feels numb all over. It must be getting colder. She should have worn something warmer.

Link takes the Zora's seat, but doesn't say a word.

She doesn't look at him. "This is what you wanted to show me, wasn't it?"

He takes his time answering her, picking his words with more care than he picks his swords. "I wanted to show you what the world is like. Today. The problems they have and the things they've achieved. You haven't seen it. I'm not sure Impa has seen it either."

The moon has shifted low enough that the stars have come out. She traces the constellation of Irsas, the Great Waterfall. It's still there. Still in the same place. "Do you think I should be queen?"

Again, he takes his time. "I don't think you should be queen if you haven't seen your kingdom."

"That's fair." She finds the hungry bear and the trickster rabbit.

"I also didn't think you should go to Zora's Domain without warning."

"That they hate me?"

"That some of them blame us. It's not all of them. And they've mostly come around about me. And...they have their own monarchy that's functioned alone for a hundred years. So do the Gerudo. Expecting them to just hand over their autonomy is just..."

She can't find the Black Whale and it's making her anxious, so she turns instead to Link. "You don't like Impa's plan."

He hedges. "Parts of it."

"Which parts of it?"

"...All the parts?"

She sighs. "What would you have me do?"

"I don't know," he says. "Things that help people. Look at these people. They're doing pretty well for themselves."

They are. It's achingly true. These people do not need a queen. They don't need the castle rebuilt. They don't need to be ruled. They need to feel safe.

"Maybe..." she says, "when we go to Zora's Domain..." She holds up a hand to stop his protests. "No, I need to go. At least to pay my respects and poke around Vah Ruta." Link doesn't breathe a word. "But maybe on the way there you can clear the road of lizalfos. That would clear the way for travel and trade." She nods. "That would help rebuild Hyrule. And I suppose you would enjoy yourself."

The smile that spreads across Link's face is lit from above by a bright yellow firework.


	8. Chapter 8

They nudge at Impa from different angles.

Zelda emphasizes that she has limited political power and very little to offer the Zora. She has no army. (You have the Sheikah!) She has few resources. (The other races of Hyrule will offer up _their_ resources!) She has no political connections. (You are the crown princess and the blood of the goddess!) If she goes to King Dorephan and makes demands that he bow to Hylian rule and he refuses (Why would he refuse?!), she will have no recourse, and she will seem weak. They have all the time in the world now. No evil is breathing down their necks, no clouds are massing over the castle. She should spend time proving herself to the leaders of Hyrule and earning their trust before they speak of reunification. These things need not be rushed. Rebuilding both infrastructure and relationships require time and care, and rushing them will only lead to sloppy work, prone to cracks.

Impa huffs and concedes the point. And in Impa's impatience, it occurs to Zelda that she may have all the time in the world. But Impa does not. Impa may not see the fruition of her work and the glory of Hyrule restored. She has waited for so long, and now that the moment has arrived, Zelda wants to wait more.

This realization does not stop her hands from shaking in her lap. She just stood up to Impa. She's never stood up to Impa.

And she did it by being misleading, manipulative perhaps, implying that she aims for reunification at a later date. And while the many cultures of Hyrule would do well to band together, she's not sure what that will look like.

Meanwhile, Link emphasizes that he is enough protection for the princess, and they don't require a full entourage of Sheikah guards. (It's for appearances!) He points out that the Sheikah slate can transport both him and the princess instantaneously, making for more efficient use of their time and resources instead of caravaning across the country for a few days. It can transport the two of them, but not a whole group. Furthermore, if they glowing-string-travel (Warp) to the Veiled Falls, they will have a short and danger-free walk into the Zora's Domain instead of having to fight their way through the monsters along the path up the Zora River.

When Impa refuses, Link does something that stops Zelda's heart.

He _pulls rank_.

"Ensuring the princess' safety is my sworn duty. It was entrusted to me by the king. I will not allow her to be put in danger."

And that...works. ("Yeah," Link says. "You should try it some time. Impa likes hierarchies. ")

It's also an outright lie, because they have no intention of warping to the Veiled Falls.

Instead, once Zelda has Sheikah approved outfits, including a travel outfit in layers of blue and white with a corset and belts and new boots, and once she has thorough instructions that she'll only partially follow, they say their farewells to the Sheikah and warp straight to the top of Lanayru Tower.

Zelda gasps and shades her eyes. They're so high up, and she can see so far. It's better than standing at the top of a mountain, because there's not a cloud in the sky. She scurries away from Link to look north-east and see how far she can follow the river's path, and then she's darting south-west to snap a picture of the wetlands. She bounces on her toes and points and moves closer to the edge for a better view and a better picture until Link feels the need to grab the back of her belt and reel her back a few steps.

She spends time documenting the structure of the tower. She can see the underside of the hinge of the movable arcs that swung up and out when the tower was activated, but she can't climb high enough to inspect the tower's canopy. The tower seems made from the same material as the Divine Beasts, except for the stalk, which is a climbable mesh—possibly of the same material. She tries to remove a small section for closer study, but Link refuses to give her a knife and asks her to not lie on the floor and lean over the edge, please. There's still some evidence of the tower's time hidden beneath the dirt, and she leans over to try to get a look at the tower's base and the enormous engine that must live there that ejected the tower so far from the ground. But Link is pulling her back again, promising that they can check out the base of the tower later.

It's just so amazing that she's standing here in a place she's only heard about in stories and seen on tapestries. She didn't get to see them rise from the ground, and she wasn't the first to climb to the top and activate them and watch them change from orange to blue around her, and that still stings, but she will be the first in ten thousand years to understand how they work. She swears it.

She sets to work at the guidance stone while Link hovers, trying to stay out of the way and failing. There's a ice wizrobe bouncing around beneath the tower, so she uses that as a test case, setting the slate to search for more of the monsters, then uncertainly setting the slate on the pedestal.

She's made a great many minor modifications with Purah, but she's not expecting anything to happen. Nothing has ever happened before when she's tapped the slate to an activation device. So she nearly jumps out of her skin when the pedestal sucks down her tablet, spins it around, when blue runes begin to trickle from the stalactite above to slash down onto her slate. Link leans over her shoulder to look at the blinking markers of ice wizrobes.

"It worked," she breathes.

Link grins at her, and then she's grinning too, and then she leaps to throw her arms around him, bouncing on her toes. "It worked!" He bounces with her, and they're just jumping up and down until he pulls away enough to smack a kiss against her cheek without smashing their skulls together and pulls her hands from his neck enough to look at the slate. "Mark it down! Can you find more?"

"I—"

He unslings his bow from his back. "I'm going to take care of this guy while you find some other monsters. Don't fall. I'll be right back."

And then he drops through one of the holes to climb down the tower.

...Okay. This time, he definitely kissed her. On the cheek. Like a friend. It's clearly just excitement. Because they are both very excited for this new discovery. In fact, it's a bit unfair of him to do something so odd when she's celebrating.

She scoots to the edge of the tower to peek down at him. He has lowered to a balcony half way down the tower and takes aim with a fire arrow at the unsuspecting wizrobe below.

Zelda tries to shake it off and deletes the mark she just made for the monster Link's about to dispatch. She sets the search function for electric wizrobes and runs the guidance stone again.

#

Once they have the locations of the major monsters—the hinoxes and lynels, the wizrobes and the one talus—in the Lanayru region, they warp down to the shrine across the river. There's a cooking pot nearby and Link makes lunch, while Zelda stares up at the tower and takes more photos. She sits on the bank and takes off her boots to let her toes dangle in the water. They eat grilled fish fresh off the fire and crepes filled with wild berries that Link just carries around with him. She tips her head back to let the sun caress her face.

When Link pulls out another crepe and goes for seconds, she lies down spread-eagle in the grass and basks in the sunlight.

A shadow falls over her, and she looks up to find Link leaning over her. "Zelda," he says, his voice as serious as she's ever heard him. It's disconcerting. "You need to change."

Even in the warmth of the sun, her lungs freeze. Link's taken her out into the beautiful wild and given her a nice morning so he can give her a firm talking to about her behavior, and how he can't stand her constant moping or her talking or how she's always on the brink of a panic attack.

No, it's a bad dream. She's fallen asleep in the grass, and this is the kind of stress dream she has now. She hasn't had that tea that keeps her from dreaming for a few days. That must be it.

He tilts his head, and his face is lifted from shadow enough to see his confusion. "I know it looks goofy, but there's a bunch of electric monsters ahead, and I really think you should put this on."

Oh.

She sits up and tries to cover her embarrassment with smooth and deft handling of all situations. "What is it you want me to wear?"

He holds out a black...stack of folded...clothing? Maybe. She runs a hand over it. It's a horrible, malleable texture that snags against the pads of her fingers.

"It's rubber," Link says. "If you wear the whole suit, you're invulnerable to electric attacks."

She scoots forward. "Really? That could prove useful for work on the ancient technology. I know Purah has been shocked a few times."

He nods seriously, and stands up, offering her a hand and then shaking out the top piece of clothing. "It'll be easier if I help you," he says. "Trust me."

He's looking at her pointedly, completely serious about helping her get dressed, and she can't help the heat that rises in her cheeks.

Surely, they're not doing this.

Link waits.

Well, she will need to take off all her belts, but she surely won't have to take off all the layers of her outfit. She tries not to make eye contact as she unclasps her belts and satchels and the corset around her ribs.

Link takes them all, folds them away, and waits.

She reaches for the rubber clothing, but he pulls it out of her reach and gives her an impatient look.

"Surely it can go on over my clothes."

"No. It really can't."

"We can at least try," she says and snatches it away from him.

It does not fit on over her clothes. She can't even get her hand all the way through the sleeve.

"Are you quite certain this will fit me?" she asks.

"It won't with that attitude."

"You said I wouldn't be in any danger on this trip. There's no way this is necessary."

"You won't be in danger because you'll be wearing this outfit. Your safety is my responsibility, so I need you to—"

"Oh, don't you pull rank on _me_." She shoves the rubber suit back against his chest and grabs the hem of her blue over-shirt to tear it off. He's still watching her though.

She narrows her eyes at him. "Do you _mind_?"

"I'm helping."

"You are not. Turn around."

He rolls his eyes and turns his back. When she's certain he's not secretly watching her somehow from his peripheral vision or some distant reflective surface she hasn't noticed, she strips off her over-shirt. After a moment's hesitation, her high collared, white undershirt follows, and she's left in her chest wrappings. Her skin chills immediately.

"You can hand it to me now."

Instead of handing it over his shoulder, he turns, all business, and pulls her hand into the rubber, and she would be offended, but—oh wow, yes, that is unpleasant. Her only saving grace is that it's slightly too large for her, so they only have to do some moderate tugging to get her hand through the sleeve and then the sleeve tugged up to her shoulder. By the time the top is on, and all the buckles are in place and her gauntlets are on, she's completely forgotten to be embarrassed. Now she doesn't want to take off her pants for reasons completely unrelated to embarrassment.

Getting the rubber tights on involves putting both her feet in and then tugging. The fabric sucks and rasps against her skin, and she is going to completely reinvent this suit if she makes it back to Hateno with all her skin. Link ends up grabbing the tights by the waist and lifting until her feet are off the ground and she's finally clothed.

She's panting and hot and the suit is sticking uncomfortably everywhere she's sweating—which is everywhere.

And then Link pulls out the hat.

"No," she says.

He holds it out to her, still terribly serious about her safety.

"Surely this is unnecessary."

He shakes his head. "It only works if you wear the whole outfit."

"But—" She takes the hat from him and twists it this way and that. Perhaps from a different angle it will look less like a fish head.

That hypothesis is incorrect. From every single angle, she will look like a fish.

"Will I even be able to see?"

Instead of answering, he tells her, "This one's easy to put on."

So Zelda looks like a fish, and she's wearing black rubber on a hike, and the sun is no longer her friend.

Link gives her the Sheikah slate to hold onto, and she sets it for lizalfos, so they'll have a bit of warning.

"There are enemies all along the road. Camps of lizalfos and electric chuchus and those wizrobes further up. I can handle them, but you need to stay back. Out of sight. And under cover."

"Alright."

He pins her with a look. "Swear it?"

She rolls her eyes, but he can't see it from under her fish hat. "I solemnly swear to stay out of your way while you disembowel monsters and get shot at with shock arrows and generally make a large, gory mess."

He nods in satisfaction and draws his sword just as the Sheikah slate starts to beep for the first time. He holds out an arm to stop her, then silently proceeds forward alone, sneaking up the trail and peeking from behind a boulder.

Zelda ducks down as she promised she would, watching through some tall, pink grass as Link vaults over the boulder and into battle. There's the squawk of a startled animal, the clanging of weapons, wet, dull slicing, and Link's loud, final "Hiyah!" The Sheikah slate stops beeping. _Finding new target_. Link reappears on the road and waves until she comes out of hiding and joins him.

Ten minutes later, they do the same thing again.

Then again. And again.

By sunset, Link is flushed and cheerful, practically bouncing down the trail. "I usually sneak around these guys," he says. "There's not much point if they just come back and come back stronger. I'll just climb the mountain and go around, or I'll warp straight to Zora's Domain. It's a challenge to have to fight every last one."

It doesn't seem like it's a challenge. He's not worn out in the slightest. She wonders if his heart rate has even increased with the exercise. She'd like to check. Run some tests. Press her fingers to his neck right under his ear, her fingers to the pulse in his wrist.

Link may be having fun, but Zelda stopped being worried or interested six enemy camps ago. She's busy now going through the Sheikah slate's shockingly incomplete compendium. What happened?! When she was in possession of the slate before the Calamity, her compendium was full. Every last entry. It was a point of pride. Now, all she can assume is that the memory was wiped, and Link has done a poor job repopulating it.

There's nothing for it then but to do it herself. Again. She holds her shoulders straighter as she comes to the decision. The slate can't even sense for electric kesse!

That, at least, is easily remedied. Maybe she's taking more chances than Link would like, poking her head out to snap photos of the monsters he's fighting. But the monsters are always entirely distracted by the swordsman leaping into their camp to notice her. At the end of each battle, she takes pictures of all the weapons the lizalfos have left behind, while Link goes through the monsters' stores and eats the monsters' lunch.

She goes through the pictures Link's taken, finding that his album is almost entirely full of photos of fruit and flowers, laid out on the floor of his house. He must have made some attempt at filling his compendium then. Just not a great one, and not one that notes where the ingredients can be found in the wild.

When the sun sets, Link insists they push on to a large lizalfos camp, where the road becomes a tunnel full of briars and the lizalfos have set up fortifications and watch towers. He thinks it'll be easier to fight them at night when he can sneak better. They might even go to sleep. Meanwhile, Zelda will stay in the road-turned-tunnel, surrounded by briars until he's finished, at which point they'll take over the lizalfos' camp for the night.

She waves him away, busy with her work. "Go have fun."

And he does.

She holds up the slate to light her way through the tunnel until she finds a space right before the brambles rise up and block the tunnel completely and right after a great hole in the roof. She has to step over a puddle, but she finds a dry spot. There's a short wall of spikes that blocks view of her if she sits down, and she's able to rest her back against the tunnel wall. As long as she doesn't make any quick movements or stick her elbows out too far, she's unperturbed by the spikes and quite well camouflaged. She's not going to move very much anyway.

She has her slate, and she's revived the note function, which it seems Link either didn't make use of or didn't know how to access. Now she can keep track of her field notes on the lizalfo behaviors she's observed so far and on the abundance of native flora compared to what she remembers of it from a hundred years ago. Except for the fish head, she's back in business.

With part of her brain, she listens for noise of battle. A horn sounding the alarm, warning that Link has been spotted. The sound of running feet overhead or the clashing of blades or the charge of a shock arrow. It's eerily silent above, and she keeps an eye on the slate's clock. Only ten minutes have passed.

She reminds herself that the silence is good. Link had intended to sneak around, instead of charging right in. And it has only been twenty minutes now. He might still be getting into position climbing a tree or crawling through tall grass or something.

She goes back to her field notes. If she keeps reminding herself of how little danger Link is actually in, it's easy to let herself relax. Let her mind wander.

It's easy.

Everything's fine.

After an hour, she hears a shuffle from down the tunnel. It's soft, like maybe a strong wind blew in some leaves. She holds very still, straining her eyes into the dark, waiting for Link's silhouette to appear.

Then she hears a croak.

She clutches the slate to her chest to block the light it might give off.

Another croak. It's hovering near the entry to the tunnel.

Without making any sudden moves and trying to block as much light as she can, she pulls up the slate and switches over to the stasis rune. A lizalfo pops on her screen, even through the black outlines of the brambles, it's marked in a yellow so bright that she can make out every scale, every twitch of its rolling eyes as it pokes around the tunnel, sniffing at the brambles, twisting its head. It opens its mouth and makes a soft "Rrrraaak."

There's a thick wall of brambles between her and the exit in the ceiling. She won't get there quickly, and even if she does, she'll still have to climb out up an almost vertical wall. Her quality hiding spot has her trapped.

But no. She's hidden, she reminds herself. She's wedged between bushes of sharp spikes, and she's wearing black. Even if it makes out her silhouette, she won't look human but like some kind of fish creature and therefore probably a trick of the light. If she's just silent and still, it won't see her. Maybe in a minute it will just turn around and go away.

 _Turn around_ , she prays. _Go away_.

She tries not to think about how it will smell her before it sees her. How she's been sweating all day, and she's ripe as can be.

The lizalfo twists its head. Not quite in her direction, but close. Its eyes tick, back and forth and to the ceiling. It scrambles forward. Just a few feet. But it's so fast that the muscles in her arms seize.

It props itself back up on its hind legs, a long spear in its hand, and it stalks, _pad pad pad pad_ , into the tunnel.

Zelda readies her slate, forcing herself to watch the monster stalk towards her on the screen instead of trying to see it with her own eyes in the shadows.

Doubting everything, she strikes.

Yellow chains burst from the ether, locking the monster in a stasis that won't last, won't last, she has no time—she switches to cryonis and launches a pillar of ice out of the puddle beneath the monster. The stasis breaks just as the monster crashes against the ceiling. A startled cry is dampened by the walls. It flails, pinned and injured, but not dead, and Zelda scrambles for the spear it dropped, stabbing with all her might up into the creature's neck.

Its eyes never find her, and, as she rips the spear out with a gurgle and stabs again, the creature's head rolls on its neck, and its eyes roll in its head, and its limbs all splay wide and stretching for one, two, three...With a sigh, it sags, then vanishes in a puff of smoke that smells like brimstone and reptile.

A noise from behind the ice and she jerks towards it, the spear raised to fight, to stab, to beat.

Link is standing there with sword in hand, staring a bit dumbstruck at the column of ice between them.

She plucks the slate up from the ground and collapses the ice block, and Link is on her in an instant, holding her forearms and scanning over her figure, pulling the helmet from her head and tilting her face up to search her eyes.

"Did it hurt you? Are you okay?"

"I—yes. I mean, no. I mean. I think I'm quite alright actually."

He pats her down, looking for blood or out of place bones or who really knows. He cups her face again, stroking her cheeks as if trying to reassure himself she's real and safe and alive. Then he pulls her tight and crushes her against his chest.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

"Link," she breathes. "Hey." She runs her hands up his back and squeezes. "I'm fine."

She realizes as she says it that it's the truth. She could so easily tip over into panic, her hands gripping her hair, all the buckles across her chest ripped open to let the cool air in and her chest expand out. She's not baking to death in the heat of her own panic, even though she can picture it so readily. She's not falling apart screaming and letting Link catch her as she slips to the ground. No, she's...okay. She's fine. She handled it—both the monster and the panic attack.

It surprises her.

He takes a breath like he's choking and drops his forehead to rest against hers. "I'm sorry."

She holds him tighter, only then realizing that she's still holding the spear in one fist. "I got it."

"You did. You shouldn't have had to." He pulls her in for a tighter hug, and although she appreciates it more than she should—given the situation, and that she shouldn't entertain these kinds of feelings—there's something tapping against her face that makes it all less than perfect.

"What is this?" she asks. She swats at it from over his shoulder. It's some kind of earring.

He pulls away like nothing happened and plucks the rubber helmet off the ground where he threw it. He's not looking her in the eye.

"Topaz," he says. She sees now he's wearing two of them. They glint yellow in the dim light.

"What are they for?"

"…Lightning resistance."

"Lighnin—" She feels suddenly as if her soul has left her body once again.

He shifts his weight, ready to run for it.

Very slowly she says, "Do you mean to tell me, that I'm wearing a giant, uncomfortable fish suit that it takes two people to put on, and you're wearing earrings?!"

"The suit is _shock_ resistant and provides much better—"

"You just thought it would be funny!"

He stares at her, his mouth gaping for something to say. He looks aghast that she could judge his good intentions so harshly.

"But," he splutters finally, "Zelda, it _is_ funny."

...

"That wasn't the right thing to say."

"No," she says. "It was not."

He stares at her, his eyes still wide and his posture still poised to flee.

"Would you like to try again?" she asks.

"Yeah, I...umm...uh, you were really quick with the slate? And you, uh, had good form with that spear?"

Zelda rolls her eyes and shoves the spear into his hands as she stomps past him. She rips open the buckles across her chest to let her skin breathe in the cold night air.


	9. Chapter 9 Zora's Domain

They stop before heading across the last bridge into Zora's Domain and have a quick clean up and a change of clothes.

She refused to put on the rubber armor this morning, even though it makes Link twitchy, and he's fought her on it the whole way here. There was a time and a place for her bright red shirt, and hiding from electric monsters wasn't it. Didn't the run in with the lizalfo last night teach them to be extra careful? No. It taught her that Link is a jerk, and he never gets to talk about what she wears again.

He is right about the time and place part tho, and now that they're about to enter the Zora's Domain proper, she decides it's time for something less comfortable and goes for the white and sky blue ensemble again. She's still got her kerchief, so she still looks fairly dressed down. At least she thinks so. It's a good middle ground at least.

"Okay, diplomatic question," Link says as she's sitting on a rock, buckling up her boots. "Should I go in wearing the Zora armor or not?"

He's standing on the grass, holding his champion's tunic in one hand and an armor chest plate in the other. He holds them out to her as if he's never dressed himself before.

She has no idea why it's an issue, but he seems concerned. "When I have trouble making decisions, I generally list the pros and cons of both," she says. Yes, that sounds like she knows what she's talking about.

He looks at her a minute, unsure if he's supposed to speak or if he should wait for her to say more. She lifts her eyebrows for him to go on, and he sighs. "The Zora's armor might remind them that they like me, which is something you want, right? For them to like us? You? But then it might also remind them of Mipha, and I don't know if we want to remind them too much that she's dead the first time they meet you and you're...not dead."

She nods slowly, and swallows back her own discomfort on being alive and young when others are not. "Those are important considerations," she says. Then, "Where did you get Zora armor from anyway?"

He shifts. Turns away to look through his pack for a third shirt option. "King Dorephan."

That startles her. "The king? The king proposed to you?" This meeting might be even more awkward than she anticipated. She'd assumed he'd found some old armor in a chest in a lake. Or that he'd brought some Zora widow comfort after her husband's untimely death by playing her a song or bringing her fifty luminous stones, and in thanks she'd given him her husband's old armor.

"The king was...storing it for me."

"Oh!" she says. "Oh, it's from Mipha!" That makes so much more sense. "I had no idea she'd finished it! I knew she was working on it, of course, but I didn't know she'd-You see, we had a bet going and-Oh! I owe Daruk fifty rupees!"

Link stares at her.

"Daruk bet that Mipha would propose to you first," she explains. "But I was sure it would be Revali."

Link's face twists.

Zelda sits up straighter. "Unless he did. Did he?"

He swallows hard. "What."

"You don't remember? How everyone wanted to marry you? It was very entertaining."

He shakes his head. "Revali hated me."

She rolls her eyes. "Is that what you remember? No, _I_ hated you. Revali just had trouble expressing his emotions. And he was much better about it towards the end. Maybe he did propose and you've just forgotten?" She raises her eyebrows in question.

Instead of providing a satisfactory answer he says, "I don't think you have to worry about losing your bet."

"Oh, of course! Because Mipha never actually proposed, she just was intending to. That's a good argument."

He watches her, waiting, then says slowly, "Zelda, Daruk is dead."

Her stomach falls.

She had forgotten. For the first time in a hundred years, she had forgotten.

She looks away and the silence that falls between them is oppressive.

Quietly she says, "Wear your Champion's tunic."

She keeps it to herself that this means Urbosa actually won the bet. The Calamity struck before any of them found their courage.

#

People greet them as they arrive. Well, they greet Link. Despite his warnings that the Zoras resent them for their part in the death of their beloved princess, despite his living while Mipha died, Zelda sees no evidence of hostility. At least in the people who hurry up to them.

She chances a glance at Link. Maybe it's not the Zora who hate him so much as Link hating himself. But he's smiling now, pausing on their straight shot to the throne room to speak to people, to listen to their problems. There's a Lynel that's back on one of the peaks. There's algae disrupting the flow of a tributary. One Zora has a hacking cough that makes him too exhausted and feverish to fish. And has Link heard the story of the pearl necklace?

This is why Link is so beloved: Because he listens. This is how he's earned respect across Hyrule. It would behoove her, she realizes, if she was as attentive to the people's needs.

She pulls up the Sheikah slate as the second Zora who meets them talks, and she takes note of his grievances. He doesn't notice her until she asks, "Which stream is this exactly?"

He startles as if he's forgotten she's there. Then, "Lulu Lake. There's algae everywhere."

"Does it glow bright green in the dark?" she asks.

He thinks a moment. "I don't know. Haven't been there in the dark. The algie's long and skinny. Kind of see through."

She nods. "Probably snail weed, but, of course, we can't be sure until we've visited, or I've seen a sample. But if it is snail weed, it shouldn't be too tricky to clear out. There's probably been a decrease in the snail population, allowing the weeds to grow at an alarming rate. I'm sure we can tend to the problem."

She smiles, and the Zora blinks at her, then at Link. Link hasn't physically stepped back, but his deference to her is clear in his posture.

"Thank you," the Zora says.

And they're on their way to greet the next person who waves at them.

It's not just that he listens, Zelda reasons. It's that he follows through. He's going to go kill that Lynel, and this time it won't come back. He's going to bring that sick Zora medicine or he's going to go out and fish for him. Through his continuous helpful nature, he's built their trust. They can count on him to follow through.

That will be the next step for her. Somehow it feels like a test that Link has arranged. He'll stand back and let her fix the problems of these people. He'll let her succeed and earn respect of her own. He'll keep her from failing, but if he has to step in he'll do a poor job of hiding his disappointment.

She just hopes he'll fight the Lynel for her.

What is she talking about? He'll love doing that.

There's a statue on the central promenade. In shining blue, Mipha looks like a ghost. Zelda remembers her in striking maroon and the blue of a champion. The statue is thirty-feet tall and armed as if guarding the Domain from attack, protecting her people. How she can look so fierce with such gentle eyes is astounding.

They pause in front of it, and Link bows his head and closes his eyes. Zelda lowers her head as well, clasping her hands together in prayer. _Thank you, my dear sweet friend. I'm so sorry I couldn't—_

"Link!"

Speaking of looming maroon, the Zora who trots up to them forces her neck back if she dares hope to take him all in. He's dapperly dressed with the teeth of a shark that he flashes in a smile that throws her off balance, and all she can say of his color is that he's less bight than her red shirt.

He grasps Link's hand and forearm in an enthused shake. "You grace us with your presence once again. I'm so glad your travels brought you through Zora territory. So glad. And you've brought company!"

"Sidon," Link says, "this is Zelda. Zelda, this is Prince Sidon."

"Oh!" She looks him up and down again, startled. He's gotten _much_ taller, but it doesn't seem polite to comment. "It is an honor," she says with a bow.

"Zelda? Princess Zelda? Then it's true! The Calamity has been defeated." He looks back and forth between her and Link, his face slackening in such a way that it seems his charming swagger is washed away in the wake of raw, honest hope.

"It's true," she says.

"We suspected when Vah Ruta shot its energy beam toward Central Hyrule. And then the machine went dark. Many celebrated that it had finally powered down and was no longer a threat, even though I assured everyone repeatedly that the beast had been tamed. But I was concerned that all your hard work and bravery to turn Vah Ruta to our side was for nothing. I prayed it was able to help you before it powered down."

Link nods. "She helped tremendously. The plan worked perfectly."

"Excellent!" Prince Sidon grins with another flash of his teeth, his exuberance returned. "You successfully defeated the Calamity and saved the princess! We must celebrate!"

"I wouldn't say I saved her. More like—"

"A feast! Princess, you have not had a Zora's feast in a hundred years. I assure you, our trade may have waned, but our hospitality and cuisine are just as impressive as they were a century ago. We must celebrate your victory! And you must see my father. Come!"

Link leans close to whisper behind Prince Sidon's back. "I rescued you."

"You provided invaluable assistance," she says primly.

He laughs, and she can't help but smile back.

#

Once she meets some of the older Zora, Zelda starts to understand Link's concerns about Zora resentment. There seems to be a generational divide between the Zora who remember the state of things before the Calamity, and those born into the world post-apocalypse.

The younger Zora are more accepting, not just of Zelda, but of the way things are. They've never traveled much. They eat only the food stuffs native to the region. They don't bat an eye at stories of monster attacks.

But then there are the older Zora, those who are of high standing, advisors to the king. Over dinner, they speak only curtly to Zelda. They watch her through narrowed eyes, and she overhears one mutter to another that she's surely there to force them beneath her heel. The two Hylians defeated Calamity Gonon. Would they dare-could they possibly-threaten the domain? They must speak to the king as soon as possible.

She holds down the panic that hardens her stomach, making it almost impossible to eat, and in response, she makes her face and her posture and her conversation as nonthreatening as possible. She smiles at the elders and asks their names and wheedles to hear their stories, and her memory works overtime, trying to scrounge up anything she can remember about them. She used to be very good with names and faces, and she plucks up an anecdote about two of the four elder Zoras sitting near her. "Do I recall correctly that you had a lute? Oh, it was marvelous, does he not play anymore? That's such a shame! He had a ballad abut a magic fish." Two of the four Zora elders soften towards her.

She tries to eat a little of everything, but there's just so much of it and she's still not great at consuming food. Link helps by pretending to steal bits off her plate when she's "not looking." The meal is laid out on long, short tables. They all sit on cushions on the ground. Link lounges with one arm draped over a bent knee, and when she catches herself analyzing just what makes the pose so attractive, she forces herself to no longer look at him.

He uses the opportunity to steal more food.

The king delicately avoids the topics of reunification and the hierarchy of monarchies. He's glad to hear that her main concern other than paying her respects is to inspect Vah Ruta. His reaction probably has more to do with the unexpectedness of her priorities than gratitude something is being done about the Divine Beast. He's even more interested to hear about how Link cleared out the trail into the domain and his intentions to get that Lynel and that Hinox once and for all. He sits up in interest as Zelda asks for his permission to relocate a small population of snails from the sleeping pools to Lulu Lake. The king mentions that he's concerned for the structural stability of the reservoir. It's no longer threatening to burst, but damage has surely been done. And Zelda leaps at the challenge, pulling out her slate to take notes, mentioning that they plan to visit the Gorons soon and she would do her utmost to find a consultant.

The king relaxes completely by the end of dinner, and Zelda collapses into a bed at the inn that night, exhausted and satisfied.

"We just might manage it," she says to Link.

"Manage what?" he asks, removing his boots. Zelda hasn't bothered with hers yet.

"I'm not sure. Something helpful. Something useful."

He flops over, still fully dressed except for his boots. "Yeah," he smiles. "We'll definitely manage something."

#

Halfway up the mountain path, Link says, "You're like a sunflower." They're headed for Vah Ruta and some mysterious location that Link "just wants to check out." It's clearly the spot marked in the slate after his trial, but if he wants to pretend Zelda can't read a map, he's clearly deluded and there's no point calling him on it. His voice startles her, and she opens her eyes and spins away from the view to see him smiling at her from further up the path. "You'd follow the sun all day if you could."

She should feel embarrassed that she was caught, but instead she grins and hurries to catch up.

"The Zoras have a lotion," he says. "It'll keep your skin from turning pink."

She tests her cheek when he's not looking. It's warm to the touch. She's already sun burnt.

They circle around the reservoir. By unspoken agreement, they bypass Vah Ruta, and they soon come to a set of three, black obelisks, set around a central pedestal. They look eerily like the pylons rising around the castle. Her pace slows as they approach.

Link's doesn't though. He rushes right up to them, and, before she can voice her concerns, he hops onto the pedestal in the center to inspect the first obelisk.

Nothing happens to him. No barrier of pink energy lights around him. He's not electrocuted or engulfed by black smoke. He doesn't fall to his knees in pain.

Even with her slow pace, she eventually catches up to him, leaning around to see what he's looking at.

"They look like maps," she says.

He nods, getting his face far too close to the dark surface.

She reaches out slowly to touch the structure with just the tip of her middle finger, to check that it's safe.

"It's just like the shrines and the towers," he says. He's moved on to the second map, so he's no longer facing her. He pretends he doesn't see her hesitation so that she may save face.

The stone is warm under her fingertip, then warm under her palm. He's right. It's just that strange, otherworldly stone.

She steps up onto the pedestal and stands next to him, pulling out the Sheikah slate to compare maps.

"This one looks like Toto Lake," she says, and he nods his agreement. She marks the spot with a beacon. Then does the same with the next two at Miaku Lake and out near Knuckle Island. "But why are these points marked? What will we find there?" She half suspects that each spot has three more maps.

He's quiet, which she takes as him not knowing, until he says, "I should go alone."

Her head snaps around. "I beg your pardon?"

He's looking off into the distance, avoiding eye contact, when he says, "It'll be dangerous."

"I followed you up the path to Zora's Domain," she argues. "What is it that you think will be more dangerous than that?"

"I don't know."

"That is not an acceptable answer, and I thoroughly reject it."

"You have your hands full with Vah Ruta anyway."

"I am quite adept at multi-tasking."

"I don't know how much time it'll add to our visit here if I don't go take care of it while you're busy."

"Well it will have to add time, because I need the Sheikah slate to work with Vah Ruta, and I'm not sure it's safe to send you on this challenge without it, so we can't possibly do both at the same time."

He has nothing to say to that, but he's making a face like he's made up his mind to go without her-with or without the Sheikah slate, with or without her blessing.

"Fine," she says, tucking the slate back onto her belt. "As soon as you leave for one of the beacons, I'll just set out for one of the other two."

He whips around to gape at her, his eyes wide and panicked, and she lifts her chin and crosses her arms over her chest.

She doesn't know why she's insisting on this. The last challenge he faced was just killing monsters, and she's not at all interested in that. However, this quest is related to the shrines, and he told her that the shrines are full of puzzles, and she is unparalleled at solving puzzles, if she does say so herself. And would it really be so bad for her to enter a shrine just once? She's been trying to get inside one for a century, and Link just waltzes in, activating them with _her_ slate.

They are accomplishing so much together. Does he not feel that way? Is he so unsatisfied with the good work they're doing that he needs to run off on his own?

"But. I mean. Zelda," he says, looking a little bit desperate. "It's a challenge set for the chosen hero."

Her spine straightens as if he's slapped her.

She says nothing as she turns and stalks off toward Vah Ruta. It's not the sun burn that makes her face heat and her eyes burn.


	10. Chapter 10 Zora's Domain

"Zelda."

She startles awake, and it takes a moment for the inn to come into focus in the dark: the soft glow of the orb-like lamps on the bedside tables, the windowless arches looking out onto the pitch black domain, Link kneeling by her bed. She sits up, and his hand falls from her shoulder.

The innkeeper is asleep. There's no moon. It must be very very late.

She pushes her hair back from her face with as much dignity as she can muster. "Have you come to apologize?" she asks. She tries to sound haughty, but also keeps her voice low, both out of respect for the innkeeper and the desire to keep their disagreement private.

"Come with me," he says.

"What time is it?"

"Early. We can make it before sunrise."

That sounds like the last thing she wants to do. Groaning, she flops back into her pillow and pulls her thin blanket over her head.

"Zelda," he hisses.

She refuses to respond. She's not going to help him. He was too rude, and then he spent almost all day beside Vah Ruta standing far enough away that he wouldn't have to talk to her or apologize and close enough to make it clear he didn't trust her not to hurt herself trying to measure how long a rope ladder she would need to reach the entrance to the Divine Beast. It's kneeling, but not easily accessible.

And then the second they got back to the Domain, Link vanished with her slate, leaving her alone at dinner with Prince Sidon, who did nothing but talk about how great Link is.

She thinks about faking a snore, just to get him to go away, but that would be a bit much.

She can hear him thinking, hear him rock back on his heels. She can see the shadow of his hand as he reaches for her sheet and uncovers her face. Uncovers her glare.

"There are guardians in the highlands," he says. His voice is so quiet, just a shifting of the air. She almost convinces herself that she imagined it. It's like a fear That resonates in her head. "They're still active."

She's up, grabbing for her pants and pulling them on while still under the blanket, planting her feet and lifting her butt and tugging. As soon as she's thrown off the blanket, he hands her her red shirt. While she shoves her feet into her boots, he gathers up her supplies. As soon as she stands, he cinches a quiver around her waist, and she uses those few seconds to finger-comb her hair, which she ties up while they walk. As soon as her kerchief is in place, Link hands her a bow.

By then they're to the long, crystal road out to the mountains, and they're alone until they meet the guard at the end of the road.

Link replaces the arrows in her quiver with a bunch of blue ones. Ancient arrows. Ten of them.

He drops the diamond circlet onto her head. She supposes she should be glad that he's not trying to con her into wearing his clunky ancient armor.

"Exactly where did you see them?" she asks.

He pulls out the Sheikah slate, pulling up the map. He points to the site of the first marker.

"One of the trials," she says. "That can't be coincidence. Do you think the trial somehow shielded them from deactivation?" His elbow bumps against hers with every step. Their faces glow in the same blue light of the slate.

He shakes his head and tucks the slate away, his expression vanishing into darkness. "They weren't there before. They just appeared."

"Since Calamity Ganon's defeat?"

"Since I activated the trial."

"Perhaps they were summoned by the trial," she speculates.

"I think they are the trial."

She thinks on this a moment as they take a switchback. She realizes she hasn't seen a single monster since they left the city. Link must have spent the night clearing their path. The thought reactivates her earlier irritation with him.

"Let's assume for the moment that these guardians are not controlled by Calamity Ganon. It's a reasonable assumption since we are aware that he's thoroughly sealed away. This leaves several possibilities. It could be that these guardians can be controlled by us, just as the guardians were before the Calamity. I can think of a few reasons why these would revert to their earlier programming when the others did not, but they all feel like flimsy hypotheses. The more likely possibility is that these guardians are controlled by the trial. These guardians work in service of the shrines."

Link pulls the Sheikah slate back out, flipping to the compendium. He shows her a guardian variety she's only seen deployed from Vah Rudania. "I think you're right. They pop up in the shrines pretty often. And it's like they're there as a test. Pretty sure they're controlled by the old mummy Sheikah monks, and being inside the shrine somehow kept them out of the Calamity's control."

"Are the guardians in the shrines still active? Do they still attack even after you've completed the shrine's trial?"

"I don't know. I've never gone back for a second round. I destroyed most of them, and I've got no idea if they ever resurrected. I don't know if they would have come back even with the blood moons."

"But it's something we could test. If there are still functional guardians about, there might be a way we could restore them all. We may be able to turn them back to our side."

Link jerks to a halt.

She turns back. "What?"

She expects him to have sensed a monster ahead, but instead he says, "You want to turn a guardian to our side?"

"Of course. Isn't that why we're out here? To capture one for further study?"

"I—No! No. We're out here to destroy them."

"What? Why?"

"What do you mean, _Why_? Because they want to kill us."

"That's why we need to alter their programing."

"Zelda." He scrapes a hand through his hair, pushing back his bangs. "That's...a much bigger project than I was picturing."

"What were you picturing? Why bring me out here if you had every intention of turning them to scrap?"

"I thought you might want the chance to take one down."

"Me? Why on earth would you think that?"

"I thought it'd be cathartic."

"Cathartic!"

"Yeah. You know? Show them who's boss."

She stares at him. It's too dark to really do so, but she stares at him anyway.

"Zelda, you can't get the guardians over to our side. Even if you _could_. Nobody's going to like it if you try. Clearing them away is one thing. Letting Robbie study them in a cave is one thing. But they turned on us once and no one's going to trust they won't do it again."

"Did you bring me out here just to lecture me? I'm very tired of this pattern, and I do not appreciate it."

He groans and covers his face in his hands. "I just thought you'd like to shoot at a guardian."

"What about me makes you think I would enjoy that? You are absurd."

She continues up the next switch back, Link hurrying after her. As they crest the ridge, Link crouches behind a rock, signaling her to do the same. A handful of sentries circle the area, and Link watches them as if he's already memorized their paths. Zelda watches too. They're the only functional guardians she's seen since the Calamity, and the pink glow scrawled across their metal sides causes her stomach to drop.

She twists to press her back against the stone. She closes her eyes and tries to breathe, but waiting for her is the stalker rearing over her, powering up with a whine, its eye glowing brighter, brighter, ready to explode.

No. Stop this. Stop this and listen.

She opens her ears, listening for running water and wind and animals, but the guardians are actually there and they're actually humming and she can't escape the noise. She can't escape.

The nearest sentry explodes.

She spins in time to see the shrapnel fall. Link ducks back down next to her, griping her shoulder and looking her in the eye. He has his bow in one hand.

"I'm fine," she says. She's aware that she doesn't sound it.

He watches her, and for a second she thinks he's going to call her on it. But then he looks away, peeks back over the rock. Then he takes her wrist and pulls her along, around the perimeter of the area the guardians patrol.

He gives her a boost up a small hill and nods at the closest sentry as it passes below them. "Aim for the eye."

Her hands are shaking. "You're perfectly capable of doing it yourself."

"Yeah, but I got the last one," he says, shifting his eyes to look at her without moving his head from his monitoring of the sentries' movements.

She knows Link. Kind of. For him, killing the guardians is about keeping Hyrule safe. Her doing the deed is about nothing more than her and her panic attacks. Showing them who's boss, as it were.

It feels like a failure. She's letting this opportunity to understand and control the ancient technology go to waste because she's such a coward. She isn't brave enough to face the guardians and her fear won Link's argument for him. They were never going to make the ancient technology to work for them a hundred years ago, and they're never going to work for them now. She never should have even tried.

She huffs, and unslings her bow, drawing one of the ancient arrows from her quiver. Her hands are still shaking, and she pulls the bow back to put enough strain in her arms to hold steady. Link shifts to murmur in her ear. "Did you see how it pauses when it reaches the end of its route? It's about ten meters away."

She waits as the sentry comes closer, closer, closer, and she holds her bow string, waiting, waiting. Her arm trembles. The sentry stops, swinging slightly as its momentum carries it. Maybe a second before she's really ready—but then when is she going to be ready?—Zelda lets her arrow fly.

The sentry splutters and sparks, then the fans holding it aloft fail, and it topples from the air, crashing against the ground and shattering into a thousand parts. When it explodes, it looks much more fragile than the search and destroy weapon she knows it to be.

Link is grinning, then taking her wrist again, boosting her up a boulder to take the next one from even higher ground. His eyes sparkle as he asks, "Want to get this one with bombs?"

Bombs are much less precise, as more than half the time she misses the sentry completely and the bomb rolls away down the hill to explode a barren section of grass. When she does manage a direct hit, the sentry only swings in the air, makes a spluttering noise, then shakes itself off and carries on with its business. She keeps expecting it to swivel, to aim its beam of light up at them and for her stomach to sink as she's caught in its light. Surely it knows where they are. It's not like they're being sneaky. The only advantage they have is height. But it doesn't look up.

She doesn't care for the bombs as much, but Link thoroughly enjoys himself, undisturbed when the bombs roll off and pumping his fist in the air when the sentry finally explodes. "Bombs are free," he explains as he hops down from the boulder to collect scattered guardian parts.

She takes out the last sentry with an arrow, and before it finishes exploding, the ground is shaking, and she's gripping Link's forearm. His hand grabs at the small of her back to keep her balanced. A cloud of dust billows up and the ground cracks and splits as a black spike bursts through the surface, growing taller and thicker until a shrine sits where there was previously bare space.

She stares at it as the earthquake subsides and the dust settles. The shrine is shaped differently from the others, sharper as if its shape helped it breach the earth.

Link doesn't look surprised, but he does look excited, and he jogs over, activating it with the slate in a motion she's done a thousand times without results. She has always been hesitant with the action, but he moves as if he's not thinking about it. The orange glow from the base of the shrine turns blue and the door unfolds. She never knew how it would open, but she has always assumed it would move as a single piece of rock, lifting into the ceiling, or rotating around to one side. She never expected it to come apart into bands, which swing in alternating directions. When she edges closer, she can see no sign of what was once the door.

"I..." Link says. He's paused before entering the shrine. "It's like the last year has been nothing but surprises. I haven't had any idea what I'd find around the corner, or what I'd run into next. Monsters or swamps or malice or a settlement or mushroom trees. And I realized that whenever I was retracing my steps, whenever I went back somewhere I'd been, somewhere I knew, even if I knew it was full of monsters and cliffs, at least I knew something. At least it felt familiar. At least I knew what I was doing.

"And after you sealed Calamity Ganon, I was kind of excited, because I could show you around. I was the expert and I could guide you, and wasn't it great that you were only now showing up when I wouldn't look like an idiot in front of you. And I know things are unfamiliar for you and I know that's uncomfortable—believe me, I know—but...I can help with that too. This is still something I know. Sort of. Does that make sense?"

She nods slowly.

"But with these trials...It's all new again. And this time it's new but you're here."

"So...are you trying to tell me that you're embarrassed? You don't like me to see you when you don't know what's coming?"

He shakes his head. "I don't like not knowing how to protect you. All I remember about protecting you is that I was always terrified I'd mess it up." He shakes his head. "I can't mess this up."

She tries to hold her insides together, to keep them all from melting. Instead she clears her throat. "I never wanted to be treated as if I were made of glass. What's the point in keeping me safe if I can't even live my life, if I can't help my people?"

He looks so conflicted that it's amazing that there are situations in which he's able to look so blank.

"Besides," she says. "It wouldn't be that much of loss now. I'm not royalty anymore."

The look he gives her could freeze time. Slowly and deliberately enough that she could stop him if she wanted, if she had any idea what he was doing, he reaches out a hand.

And shoves her.

With a squeak, she loses her balance, throwing out an arm before catching herself, righting herself, and storming up to him to shove him back with both hands in retaliation. She doesn't hold anything back, but he's braced for it and barely moves.

He's grinning at her again. He reaches out, holding a hand to her in invitation. When she takes it uncertainly, he hauls her up, and doesn't let go of her hand as he pulls her into the shrine.

"I'm so serious that you have to stay behind me, though." He pulls her close and braces an arm around her waist, and she startles as the floor beneath them lowers into the ground.


	11. Chapter 11 Zora's Domain

Zelda is convinced that the platform that lowers down into the shrine could change civilization as they know it. Imagine how tall they could make buildings if they didn't have to consider stairs. How does it work? Is it magnetic? She doesn't see any tracks for it to run on. Link has to pull her away from it to show her the shrine's other marvels, but while she was distracted, he scouted ahead and judged there to be no danger, so he's not that put out by her obsessive behavior.

The shrine has a high ceiling with an artificial light source that she desperately wants to investigate. She keeps taking pictures of it, but they don't come out quite right. In contrast, below them is a bottomless pit. It's a bit horrifying, especially since the walk way they're on seems to be held up by prayer and whatever force raises and lowers the platform. She digs through one of the pouches on Link's belt until she comes up with a handful of acorns, which she throws into the pit. They vanish into the dark and never make a sound to indicate they've hit the bottom. When she finally gives up waiting for the sound of impact, she straightens from leaning over the edge and turns to see Link looking at her completely aghast. He's not mad she dug through all his pockets without asking, violating his personal space. He's mad that she would waste food so thoughtlessly.

The walls are the same material as the divine beasts and the towers. "Yeah," Link says, "you can't climb them." Somehow it does not surprise her to learn Link has tried to climb the walls.

If he had managed it though, she would demand to know if he ever investigated the light source in the ceiling.

It's not worth dwelling on too long, because there's a ball that must be guided into a hole.

"How do you know that's our objective?" she asks.

He sighs. "Because that's _always_ the objective."

Link hands over the slate, because it's quite the puzzle. He gets too close to watch over her shoulder. He really has no sense of personal space, but it's fine. She can admit to being a bit socially awkward as well, so she can't really fault him.

She had no idea she could use the cryonis rune on running water, or that she could make the pillars protrude horizontally. Link has no answers to her hundred of questions except unhelpful shrugs, so she stops asking him and goes back to just asking herself.

She gets the sphere into the bowl-like divot, and the runes on both turn blue, and Link gives her waist a squeeze (he's been bracing himself there so he could watch her work) and a door opens, and now she understands what Link meant earlier when he referred tithe "mummy Sheikah monk." She startles at the sight of him. How long has he been sitting there? Is he asleep? Is he dead? Is he a well-formed statue? Has he been watching her attempts to put the ball in the hole? Because if so, Link really should have warned her. She would have done a much more efficient job.

She circles the dais, searching for answers. She takes pictures. She leans in and squints, getting her nose as close as she can to the blue energy wall surrounding the monk.

Link waits.

"What now?" she whispers.

Link hops up the stairs and presses his hand to the energy barrier, which shatters into a thousand pieces, causing her to startle again and lift up and arm to cover her face.

And how does _that_ work? Will anything shatter it or only Link's hand? Is its purpose to preserve the monk? Is it only an illusion?

The monk doesn't move. But there's a voice. In the air? In her head? And then a purple orb of energy enters Link's chest. He doesn't seem concerned. As if this happens to him all the time. As if he's expecting it.

The Sheikah monk dissipates (adding credence to her energy-wall-as-preservation hypothesis) and she and Link are teleported, and Zelda is standing before the entrance to the shrine, blinking in the afternoon sunlight.

She could sit and think about the millions of discoveries she's made in the past few hours. She needs to get all her field notes into her journal as soon as possible.

But Link grins at her and says, "Where to now?" And there are really too may options to choose. The world is suddenly so large. And with the way Link is smiling at her, it somehow doesn't feel overwhelming.

#

Link is talking to a pair of Zoras, both young women of the generation that thinks Link is a hero who saved them from Vah Ruta's tantrum, and isn't it sad how his romantic, cross-cultural love story ended so tragically? They touch his arms a great deal as they talk to him, and Zelda hangs back to watch from across the promenade. She doesn't want to intrude. Or, no, she does, because it seems in questionable taste to flirt with Link in front of Mipha's statue, but she doesn't want the Zora to think she's disapproving. She doesn't want anyone (including Link) to think she's restricting his socializing in any way. He can surely make his own choices.

Since she has no interest or say in his actions, there's no reason not to join them. She's interested in hearing their discussion, and it's about time for them to leave on their morning excursion to Vah Ruta anyway.

Link smiles at her when she approaches, and tells the Zora, "I'm sure we can make that happen."

"Really?" "Truly?"

He laughs and squeezes one of the hands clutching his forearm. "Of course. It shouldn't be a problem. Right, Zelda?"

"I'm sure we'll try our best, but I would like to know what I'm agreeing to."

The Zoras laugh. One of them detaches from Link to clutch at Zelda's arm, leaning in close with a face full of hope.

"Since the Calamity is over, we've decided it's time to start our families. We want to lay eggs as soon as possible!" The other Zora nods her enthusiasm. "It's Zora tradition for us to present our husbands with a gift when we've come to this decision. We were thinking, and we decided it would be a wonderful idea to make our husbands an exotic delicacy. To symbolize the new world our children grow up in. Link was telling us about cake!"

"Can you imagine?" asks the other Zora. "A world with access to flour! And butter!" She bounces with excitement.

"And exotic fruit," Link adds.

It takes Zelda aback, but she keeps all evidence of her surprise well hidden beneath genuine warmth. "Congratulations! What a tremendous decision. You must be so excited."

The Zora grins so big her eyes squeeze closed.

Link says, "I told them we could hop down to the stable and let everyone know the road is clear and that the Zoras are very interested in trade. Especially trade that involves foreign food."

"That's a wonderful idea. We must encourage the Zora to send their own traders out as well. You have so much to offer!"

"Maybe I'll go myself," the first Zora says, removing one hand from Zelda's arm to tap her chin in thought. "I'm a freshwater clam digger by trade. I wonder if there would be a market."

"It certainly wouldn't hurt to find out."

"We'll head down later and tell them to expect you," Link says.

"Thank you! That's so kind of you. Isn't he kind?" the Zora asks Zelda.

She hums in agreement. She is heart-warmingly proud of him for this quality. Not that she can claim even the slightest bit of responsibility, but still. She's proud to have such a compassionate and generous companion.

"He'll help absolutely anyone who asks him," the Zora says. "Ha! But you know that already. He helps you tremendously!"

She might not cover her surprise at that very well.

But Link is detaching himself and Zelda from the Zora, who immediately cling to each other. He bids them farewell and guides Zelda away, his hand on the small of her back.

"You ready?" he asks.

She forces a smile onto her face and agrees.

Of course Link helps her. He helps her more than he helps anyone else. He helps her through panic attacks and nightmares. He helps her not make a fool of herself in this new political climate in which she finds herself. He keeps her safe from monsters and loans her defensive equipment. That's hardly a revelation.

But...it's just surprising to realize that he would, and does, do the same for anyone.

And doesn't that sound self-involved?

#

It's snail weed that's clogging up the pond. With the reintroduction of snails, the water is flowing again in a matter of days. And it just so happens that the snail weed, when cooked, is a terrific decongestant, which does wonders for the sick Zora.

The site of the next challenge is just down the waterfalls, where a spinning blue wheel hovers in the air like a target. Link stops by the edge of the water, his eyes roaming up the falls. Then he grabs his Champion's tunic by the back of the collar and yanks it off over his head.

Zelda circles the target, taking pictures, but somehow it always turns to face her. Does it sense her presence, or is it playing tricks on her mind? Why is it focused on her instead of Link, or can it face them both simultaneously?

"Does it look like a circle from your angle?" she asks.

Link's shirtless now and about to pull down his pants, so she averts her eyes back to the glowing circle. Who even knows what he's doing. Link has no sense of propriety. It's very lucky she's the only one around, or this could be embarrassing. For whoever he's with. Link is probably incapable of feeling embarrassment and might not notice a travel companion's discomfort.

"What?" he says. "Yeah, it's a circle. Why?"

She crouches to look at it from below, but again it tilts to face her. The glow reminds her of when they warp. "Interesting."

Link is now in his underwear digging through the pile of supplies next to him.

She can't take it anymore. "What on earth are you doing?"

With an "Ah ha!" he pulls out the Zora armor and holds it up to show her. "What do you want to bet I have to swim up that waterfall?"

She looks up at the falls, then back at the circle. "You only think that because of where you're standing. From my angle it looks like you'll have to dive off the cliff." She gestures through the circle. 

Link hops a bit as he gets his greaves pulled up over his hips. He shakes his head. "Definitely the waterfall."

"Probably the waterfall," she corrects.

His grin disappears into his Zora armor. Once it's on, he stretches a bit until it all falls into place.

It's a good thing she's already sunburnt and a good thing she has this spinning blue thing to pretend to look at.

Link clanks up next to her, now wearing a helm that adds angles to his face. He has all his equipment back in place, and he holds out his hand to request the slate. Only begrudgingly does she hand it over. He bounces twice before he runs, dashing straight through the circle. She half expects him to vanish, to be teleported away, here on this side of the circle and gone on the other, but instead there's a pop as the trail of a firework leads to the appearance of a new blue circle.

At the base of the waterfall.

Of course.

Link dives into the water, and then he's skimming up the falls, blasting through circle after circle, target after target.

He disappears over the top of the falls, and she scurries backwards to see if she can catch a glimpse of him. She shades her eyes and briefly spots him at the top of the next set of falls, but then he vanishes over those too. 

And then she's alone. 

She sighs and briefly debates what ought to be done. She could scale the cliff to catch up to him, but that sounds unpleasant. There's a trail that leads to the top of the falls. She knows because they just came from there to inspect the progress of the snails. She reaches for the slate at her hip to look at the map, but the slate isn't there. Link has it. She has no map.

She turns back toward the Domain, trying to trace the path they took to get here. Should she head back by herself? Should she head up to the top of the falls and the snails by herself? Should she sit here and wait for Link to finish the shrine that will surely appear after he's finished the external trial? They should have discussed this better. Made any sort of plan. And now she's getting irrationally irritated that he would abandon her, which is nonsense. Mostly nonsense. She frowns toward the Domain.

But then Link is whooping from overhead and he drops from above, folding away his paraglider to land next to her.

"I told you it was the waterfall," he says. The helm shades his eyes in such a way that he looks mischievous. He looks up to something. He looks dangerous. "What did you bet me, again?"

"I did not bet anything. You had a logical hypothesis, which I would hardly presume was incorrect. I was simply reminding you not to get ahead of yourself making assumptions."

"You're too smart," he says. 

Then he taps her forehead. He simply bounces his finger off it. 

She startles, but he's already pulling out the slate to give it back and show her the new shrine to which they can warp.

"I had to activate it without you, so we can warp there, but I didn't go inside."

He wraps an arm tight around her waist, and she reminds herself that he is a tactile person-perhaps an internalized remnant from his time with the Zora, who are also affectionate. She wraps an arm around his neck and teleports them both.

#

The shrine involves lifting boxes and climbing up them to reach the monk who is definitely watching everything she does. Thankfully, she excels at switching between the slate's various functions, and decodes the logic of the trial with ease.

All the climbing involved is a different story.

Link, meanwhile, can't seem to make heads or tails of what she's doing, and keeps making suggestions as if he's trying to go somewhere completely different (as if there are options) or as if he fully intends to return all the blocks to the floor for no apparent reason. You would think with how she's explaining everything she's about to do, he would understand the next steps, but he either can't hear her while he's wearing his helm, he doesn't trust her judgement, or he honestly doesn't understand the magnesis rune.

When she slides the final box into place, Link is so surprised and delighted that he barks a laugh and punches a fist in the air. the next thing she knows, he's swooping in to kiss her cheek. "You got it!"

She tries not to blush. It doesn't mea anything.

And of course she got it. Honestly, he's so strange. She's honestly worried now that there is something wrong with him. Aside from the memory loss and the recklessness.

As soon as they're out of the shrine, she pulls his helm off his head and checks his hearing, snapping her fingers on either side of his head.

"Um. Zelda?"

"I'm worried there's water in your ear canal from your race up the falls. If so, it may cause you to be prone to infections."

She then checks the size of his pupils for any odd dilation or discrepancies in terms of size, which would indicate a concussion. They look fine at first, the same as usual, but as she watches, his pupils widen. His face softens.

She suddenly realizes how they're standing. That she's cradling his face and looking deeply into his eyes.

Hastily, she moves one of her hands from his cheek to his forehead as if checking for a temperature. "I think you're getting sick." She drops his face and scurries back to give herself space to dig through one of her pouches. "Here," she says, handing him some snail weed. "Eat this."

She turns away and starts the trek back to the Domain. "We should get lunch before warping to the stable. Are you alright to walk back to the Domain, or should we warp there as well?"

"M ood."

Link's mouth is full of snail weed. Clearly, she's letting her imagination get the best of her. She spends the rest of the walk silently listing reasons she should not be attracted to Link, who is obligated by fate and shared trauma to spend time with her, and who is far too much of an oblivious duffus anyway.

#

Zelda has Vah Ruta turned on. The warp point works so they've folded away the rope ladder. All the pods are blue. The main control unit is whirring. But Vah Ruta won't move. She won't stand from her kneeling position. Her trunk won't rise. She doesn't expel water into the air or produce flying blocks of ice that are so similar to the cryonis rune that she knows there must be explanations waiting like treasure somewhere inside the beast.

But she won't move.

"She needs a pilot," Link says.

"Do we want to speak to the king about recommendations, or do you have someone in mind already?"

He frowns. "Sidon would probably do it if we asked."

"That's why we cannot ask."

"Exactly."

She sits back on her heels from where she's knelt before the main control unit. She pulls the slate into her lap and scowls at it. She has a map, but according to Link, when he was last here he had controls to raise and lower Vah Ruta's trunk. Those controls are now missing, and there's now a message in the corner that says, "Searching. Searching. Searching."

Zelda's seen the message before. It was there before Mipha came aboard.

"We should speak to King Dorephan. Ask how he wants to proceed. As you said: she belongs to the Zora. We can't designate a pilot for her without Zora input."

He hums agreement, and looks up at the ceiling as if he might spot a new switch that activates Vah Ruta's higher functions.

"The question then," Zelda says, "is if we can leave Vah Ruta unattended until we find a suitable pilot. It wouldn't do for someone unsuitable to stumble in and bond with her while we're away. Perhaps the Zora would be willing to post a sentry."

"Let's hope so." But Link looks concerned by the whole idea that Vah Ruta isn't secure.

"Do you have a better plan?" she asks.

He sighs. "No. You're right. We should talk to the king."

She puts away the slate and looks around Vah Ruta as well. The sunny brown walls are almost cheerful. It looks the way she remembers it, when the Sheikah first excavated it: full of potential yet unrealized. It's hard to picture it crawling with malice. It's hard to believe it is Mipha's tomb.

"If the king doesn't know who to appoint as pilot, we don't have that much more to do in Zora's Domain."

"Just the last trial." He says, "Then we'll have to head home."

"Yes," she says. "Home."

#

She accompanies him to the last challenge. They cut east out to Akkala, deciding to take the day trip and come back tomorrow instead of teleporting closer. They're not exactly avoiding Impa. they're just taking their time. The trip is relaxing, climbing the Zora ridge and then hiking through the fields of Akkala. She takes the opportunity to get better pictures for her compendium, pausing their hike to crawl on her belly for a close up shot of a fox, holding still in the tall grass until the birds come right up close.

But as soon as she can smell the sea, as soon as they approach an area of the unknown, a tension starts to build in Link's shoulders. He grows quieter, more alert. Maybe he used to always be on alert, and it's only now that he's relaxed that she's able to notice the difference.

It's almost shocking when they approach the cliff face, and, instead of a monster, they find a couple of camping Zora. The instructions are straight-forward even if they don't make sense: at sunrise, follow the sun. It sounds like a leap of faith, and they spend the last few hours of daylight on the beach, collecting crabs and catching fish. Link tries to show her how to spear one, standing close behind her to guide her arm through the throw.

She misses completely.

Instead, he shows her how to use bait and then stand, very still until the fish come close enough to catch. She only slips into the water once, but even then she manages to hold onto her catch. They cook it for dinner back up with the Zora. Link tries to talk her through the process of filleting, but she makes a mess of it. Her fillet is shredded and thin in places and still has scales in others. It's probably filled with bones. Luckily Link caught four other fish. He takes the one she caught and eats it himself, and he does not mention what a small portion it is. He doesn't even discreetly pull bones out of his mouth. She wonders if she did a better job than she first thought, or if he's eating fish bones to save her feelings.

"I'm going to take care of that stronghold down there," he says, nodding north to a floating fortress just off a spiral isthmus.

"In the dark?" she asks.

He smiles, and it's dazzling. "No time like the present."

And as foolish as it is, she might be a little bit in love with Link.

"You sleep," he says. "You'll be safe here." He shoots the Zoras a look as he speaks. It's downright threatening. But the Zoras laugh and assure him that, of course, they would be honored to care for the princess in his absence.

When the morning comes, the sun rises over the ocean, and Zelda huddles under a blanket and watches the beauty of the wild. She listens to the quiet of the wind. And then Link takes a running start and leaps off the cliff, snapping open his paraglider and heading for the sun. The moment is so surreal, that it feels like he might actually make it. When he disappears into the distance, she wonders if he did.

It's hours before he reappears, trotting over from behind them, from the opposite direction from where he vanished, from a shrine somewhere back on the mainland. He holds out a hand to pull her to her feet, pulls her close, and brings her with him as they warp away to the final trial.


	12. Chapter 12 Zora's Domain

The Zora guards spent the whole week on high alert. They watched the comings and goings of the princess from the corners of their eyes. They kept tabs on her movements around the region. They tightened their grips on their spears whenever she stood before the king.

"She has no army to threaten us," said one elder. "If she makes any demands, we'll simply call her bluff. She can't force us to do anything."

"She has an army of Shiekah," said another elder. "And she's protected by the Hylian Champion, who single-handedly destroyed the Calamity. If we threaten her, are we prepared to go to war?"

The guards did not move except to dart their eyes at one another. They weren't part of the discussions. They were just the ones who might die if it came down to it.

The king put an end to the discussion with an unsatisfying, "Let us hope it doesn't come to that."

So the guards had no definite orders. No clue what to do if the moment came.

But the week passed, and it didn't come. There was no mention of Hylian taxes or renewed oaths of fealty. There was no whisper of her coronation or even the words "High Queen." And what kind of High Queen rolled up her pant legs to wade into a pool and pluck out acceptably plump snails? What High Queen climbed all over the reservoir taking "pictures" and measurements with sting, making calculations by hand in a notebook? What kind of High Queen sat by the cooking pot and taught the young people to make "carrot cake?"

What kind of High Queen wore clothes like that? Was that the fashion a hundred years ago, or was this some new trend in Hateno?

It started to feel like the threat wasn't coming. Like she was a normal young woman with a strange fascination for engineering. The guards desperately wanted to relax, but they couldn't let themselves. The whole week felt like they were working the day before a Feast Day. But they couldn't let their guard down, because what if that was the devious princess's plan? Luring them into friendship and a false sense of security.

Watching as they were, they knew something was wrong when she walked into the throne room with her shoulders braced and a determined and guilty look on her face, like she was going to ask something distasteful and she knew it was wrong, but she was going to ask anyway.

The king stiffened on his throne.

She came to a halt before him, Link a proper two steps behind, and she bowed her head in respect. "Your Highness, I'm afraid I have something delicate I wish to discuss with you."

The king took in a bracing breath so loud it shifted the air. He bowed in return, in resignation, and said, "Best to get delicate situations over with, Your Highness. Attack them head on."

The guards could see her swallow before she said, "Vah Ruta is at full power, but she will not be functional until she has a new pilot. I'd request that you select a new Champion, so that I may assist them in making the connection with the Divine Beast, and aid them in learning to control her."

The king blinked, taken aback by the unexpected discussion topic.

"You wish me to pick a new Champion?"

"Yes, Your Highness." She bowed her head once more, an unnecessary gesture in terms of protocol, but respectful and appreciated nonetheless. "I know it is a difficult choice. But Vah Ruta belongs to the Zora. The decisions should be yours."

The princess was handing over a Divine Beast to the Zora. With Vah Ruta at their command, they could surely take on the Sheikah army. Did this mean no attack was coming?

The guards could only guess what went through the king's mind in the long pause that followed. Weighing political power and the power of armies. Weighing the princess' generosity against the odds that this was a trick.

But after considering all this, his decision boiled down, as always, to his daughter. "I will not pick a new Champion," he said. "Vah Ruta has and always will belong to Princess Mipha, the Zora Champion." Then louder, his voice declarative, he said, "The Divine Beast will be a monument to what was lost in the Calamity. And a monument to the victory that defeated it."

The guards allowed their shoulders to relax.

#

By unspoken agreement, Zelda and Link walk out into the highlands after their disappointing meeting and before the celebratory dinner that's hastily planned for the evening. She flops down into the grass on her back and allows the sun to bake her arms and face, bake away her failure. The sun is usually so good at reminding her that joy exists.

Link lies down beside her. He's on his belly since he still wears the Master Sword on his back.

She understands the king's decision but can't help but think it's short sighted. He could never replace Mipha, but she's not asking him to do so. She's asking him to find another Zora Champion, and being the Zora Champion was only a part of who Mipha was.

What does it mean that the Zora want to power down Vah Ruta? What if they're the only group without a Divine Beast? It might change the power balance of the country, putting the Zora at a disadvantage. And if it does, what could be done to mitigate that? What if this is setting a precedent? What if the Rito want to take Vah Medoh apart for scrap? What if the Gerudo want to bury Vah Noboris back in the sand? How can she rebuild Hyrule as she's planned without the aid of a single Divine Beast? She'll never be able to study them in detail! So much knowledge would be lost!

Link's voice is braced when he says, "You did the right thing."

Zelda moans and crosses her arms over her face to hide. "I didn't fight for her! I didn't even try to save Vah Ruta! I didn't try to change the king's mind at all!"

"But you let him make the call. That's important."

"I should have been able to do both. I'm a disaster!"

"Yeah, but not because of this."

She groans again.

And what must Link think of her? He's going to watch her power down Vah Ruta, watch the light fade from her consoles, hear the pitched hum of her engines lower as she dies, as Zelda kills her. Mipha's pride and joy will forever be her tomb. The Divine Beast will never help to heal the wrongs of the Calamity. This monument to the past shows that the Zora will never move forward, will never embrace the future of Hyrule that Zelda envisions, the future Link showed her. Will they ever move on and finally forgive Link? Will he ever forgive her for letting them treat Vah Ruta this way?

"How can you even spend time with me?" she asks. "There's no possible way you enjoy my company. You know I hold you under no obligation, right?"

"I spend time with you because you care," he says. "You care _so much_ about people you've _never met_ , and then you meet them, and you care even more."

"Caring is not the same as helping."

"So dramatic."

"Yes! I'm dramatic and bitter and self-loathing and self-centered and ignorant. I've made your life miserable. My very presence makes you anxious. And now, completely against your wishes, I'm following you about on your adventures, forcing my company upon you."

He shakes his head. "You're too hard on yourself."

"I'm most certainly not. You're simply far too forgiving of me." She lifts her crossed arms over her head to peek at him. "I'm serious, Link. Your oaths to protect me are no longer binding. I'd never hold it against you if you left."

It would hurt, of course. Not only does Link assist her through her panic attacks and her nightmares, not only does he provide her with shelter and protect her from monsters and guide her through this foreign world, but there's also the heart-twisting longing that looms within her heart that would make his absence stab all the more deeply. But he will be better off without her, and if she truly loves him, she should grant him that.

He squints at her. "Do you need alone time? Why are you trying to get rid of me?"

"I'm not—"

"You are. I thought we were past you wanting me to go away. What about me is making you this upset?"

"What? Nothing! You're perfect!"

"Pft. I know you think all kinds of judgmental stuff about me."

"I do not."

"Yes, you do."

"That is quite the assumption."

"No, it's not. You just went on a long rant about all the things you judge about yourself. I doubt your opinion of me is any kinder."

"That's different."

"Is it?"

"Of course. Just because I hold myself to high standards, doesn't mean I hold others to those standards. I would never judge anyone else as harshly as I judge myself. That would be cruel."

He gives her a smug look, like he just proved some kind of point. She responds by glaring at him and covering her face once more.

"I'm lazy," he says.

"You are not. You're the most active person I've ever met."

"But I slept for three days after the Calamity."

"You're entitled. I was only upset because I didn't like being alone."

"I'm forgetful."

"That's hardly your fault."

"I track mud into the house, and I smell like a brawl."

"That's...true."

"And I'm reckless."

She throws her arms in exasperation, letting them bounce against the grass. "And yet over-protective at the same time! How is it possible? It's mind-boggling."

He grins at her, like she's endearing. "See? You're judgy."

"You're infuriating."

"But you like me anyway. We're both annoying. That's why we work well together."

He takes her hand in his, threading their fingers together. Pivoting her arm at the elbow, he lifts their hands. "You're such a weirdo," he says. "And I like spending time with you." He presses a kiss to the back of her hand, and even in the sun, her skin erupts in a full body shiver.

"Even when you're doing whatever mood this is," he adds, using their joined hands to gesture at her.

#

They walk to Vah Ruta, even though they're going to have to warp from the ground to get inside anyway. They're dragging their feet, not quite ready to power down the Divine Beast, not quite ready to return to Hateno where Impa will learn how bad Zelda is at following directions. They walk because they're both aware that there's another challenge waiting for them at the Divine Beast, and Link's not going to warp into an unknown situation.

They get about fifty feet from Vah Ruta, when Link abruptly stops. He stiffens. He sucks in a breath.

"Link?"

He doesn't move.

"Link?"

His eyes have gone glassy. He's not blinking, just staring at Vah Ruta—no, through Vah Ruta. Zelda's chest cramps with fear.

"You're scaring me. Please say something."

But he's gone. He's just _gone_.

Zelda's hands have gone numb. Her vision telescopes sickeningly. A panicked burn builds in her stomach, needing to heave itself out, and she knows it's the power of the Goddess rising up to _fix this._ She forces it down, tries to force herself to calm, but her hands are shaking when she lifts them to Link's face, strokes over his cheeks to reassure herself that he's there. Right there.

She wants to scream and shake him back to himself. She wants to press a kiss to his lips like waking him from a spell, but she knows that if that fails, it will break her. She wants to be brave enough to let the challenge play out, because that's obviously what this is. It's the challenge. Just the challenge. She should trust Link handle it and to return to her. Trust Link enough not to drag him back.

She strokes over his cheeks again, checking and checking and checking that he hasn't gone cold. That he's not dead again in her arms.

He comes back to himself with a gasp, and she supports him as he stumbles, one hand on his arm, one hand on his cheek. "Link? Link?"

"Zelda?" He blinks, squeezing his eyes closed and batting to clear them. When he finally focuses on her, his hands grab at her waist. "Are you alright?"

"Me? You're the one who—who—You were just standing there! Staring into space! I didn't know what to do!"

She must sound more frantic than she means to, because he pulls her close and hugs her. She buries her face against his neck, to smell him and feel his pulse rapid against her nose, as if he's just run a mile. _He's alive_ , it says. _Alive alive_.

"Breathe, Zelda. It's okay."

"Of course, it's okay. I'm just—I—you—"

"I'm fine too."

She collapses against him at that. Maybe she shouldn't press this close to him. He'll be able to feel how hard her panicked heart is pounding.

"Where did you go?" she asks.

He hesitates before telling her, "I fought Waterblight Ganon."

"What?" She pulls back to run her hands over him, checking that he's alright. Is he alright? "Where? How?"

"In my memories." He looks up at Vah Ruta, almost as if he's zoned out again. "I was…" He swallows, then says. "I beat him."

"Good," she says. "Good. Well done." She tells herself that she's not shaking. She is not. She tells herself that Link's the one who needs comfort now. Not her. She tightens her grip on the back of his shirt and tries to radiate comfort to the best of her abilities.

He strokes her hair. "I'm so sorry I left you. I didn't know that would happen."

"It's not your fault, of course. We knew there would be a trial here, and—and I'm perfectly fine. Really. You didn't leave for long. Thirty seconds maybe."

"What? No. I was gone hours. I..." He tightens his grip on her, pulling her onto her toes. "Good. I'm glad I wasn't gone long."

The time dilation and the manufactured hallucination both draw up a million questions. She gives away how worried she was by not asking a single one. Link doesn't seem to mind too much. He just holds her, maybe taking as much comfort from her presence as she does from his. Possibly. Most likely not.

From somewhere over her shoulder, there's a trickle of music. Link turns his head to look but doesn't pull away. He rests his cheek on the kerchief in her hair. She steps back after a moment, forcing a smile onto her face.

"I'm glad you were successful once again," she says.

He still looks disconcerted and disoriented, but he makes a face and says, "I didn't have the right equipment. That's why it took so long."

"The vision changed the equipment you had?"

"It made it so..." He shakes his head again. "Come meet Kass."

"Who?"

Kass is a vibrant blue Rito playing an accordion further around the side of the Divine Beast. He startles when he notices them approach.

"I've been roosting here, so I could come to better understand the Zroa Champion, Mipha," he says. "I hoped that nearness to the Divine Beast she controlled could help me finish my teacher's song."

"Your teacher?" Zelda asks.

"Kass is the apprentice of the court poet," Link says. His tone says he's proud of himself for being able to share that information with her, but it's clear to her that he has no memory whatsoever of the court poet or he would not be so pleased with himself.

"Would you like to hear the song?" Kass asks.

It's the kind of song that reaches inside the stiff protection of her ribs and yanks at all the tender parts inside. She's drawn into it even before she realizes it's about her. It's so vivid. She can see it as if it happened this morning. Mipha's voice as she faced her destiny and her doom. The warmth and grief in her eyes. The easy way she held her trident. The way she twisted and skimmed through the water, the way she flew and spun, elegant and precise and artful.

She wonders if Link can see the scene as clearly as she can. She gives him the illusion of privacy and keeps her face turned to the musician as Link turns to Vah Ruta. His head lists to the side, as if he can still hear Mipha's voice. He presses a hand to his chest where it aches.

He turns to her and asks, "You ready?"

Mipha's life did not turn out as she had planned, but she faced it with grace and made the most of it. Zelda can at least try.

"Yes," she says.


	13. Chapter 13 Hateno

"Well," Impa says, "I would call that quite the success! You succeeded in the two most important tasks: fostering a relationship with King Dorephan, and opening trade to the Zora Domain. I fear the deactivation of the Divine Beast was to be expected. Don't be disappointed."

They have rearranged the tech lab so Impa now has a tall stack of pillows to sit on. With Zelda and Link both standing, she is at their eye level.

Zelda nods rather than argue. She was worried that Impa would be angry with her, so she should accept this praise even if it feels like it's for the wrong reasons.

"It was a success," Zelda agrees. "And if that's all, I would like to speak to Purah a moment."

"Of course, Your Highness. And if you don't mind, I would like to speak to Link."

Zelda and Link exchange looks. She's baffled but unconcerned. He looks like a little boy who's just been called to his headmaster's office. He widens his eyes at her in an attempt to convey that he has no idea what he did wrong. It's so endearing that she says, "Of course."

As she walks past, he mutters, "Traitor," but his cheek twitches toward a smile and he lifts his chin to face Impa. Zelda allows herself a grin as no one can see her, then lets it spread when Purah charges up to her outside.

"Did you try the tower? What happened? Tell me everything!"

"It worked!" Zelda says, pulling out the slate. "We were able to find all the large monsters in the Lanayru region, and Link was able to dispatch them."

Purah snatches the slate away to see it, but with all the marks now erased, it looks no different from last time. This does not dampen her excitement. "I knew it! The towers must have an even more powerful honing system than the slate, but I bet they work the same way. Whatever way that is. Did you try to locate deactivated guardians?"

"No. But perhaps if you could lend us your expertise?"

Purah cackles.

Zelda's excitement falters when Link rejoins them. His expression is hard. He tries to wipe it away when he sees Zelda watching him.

"What is it?" she asks.

"Nothing."

She gives him a skeptical look.

"We'll talk later," he says. "I need some time to think."

That doesn't sound good at all.

Her sense of foreboding only increases as Link stays on edge. He lifts his head at every odd noise. He's still fully armed, and she catches him looking out the tech lab window twice. He's the one to suggest they go to Hateno Tower, even though just that morning he gave what could only be described as an ode to taking a nap in his own bed.

Before they leave, he turns to Symin and asks, "Are you armed?" Symin slips a cruel looking scythe from the small of his back. Only Zelda finds this surprising. Link nods, and then nods at a Sheikah named Dorian, who's standing behind them, and then he warps Symin to the tower first. He ferries over Zelda second, and she realizes as he releases her and disappears again that even with Link elsewhere, she has had at least one Sheikah watching over her.

He finally warps to the tower with Purah, who refuses to warp any way other than on piggy-back. Link paces at the tower, sweeping his eyes across the ground below them, then circling back to brush his fingers against Zelda's back where she's bent enthusiastically over the guidance stone, then out again to watch over the countryside. He stays at the top, even though there's a whole encampment of moblins right below them.

"I'll get them later," he says.

It doesn't bode well.

He lets them stay as long as they want, without hurrying them along at all. When it's time to head back to the tech lab, he ferries Purah and Zelda, and then it seems as though he spends a long time at the tower alone with Symin.

Although they locate plenty of monsters in the region, they have no luck pinpointing the guardian remains, but Purah has some ideas and will keep working on it. She'll probably have it before they leave for Eldin. She's fairly sure, anyway. She has a good feeling.

Back at home, Link's still on edge. Zelda gets out the emerald green fabric and starts planning a new tunic. She sketches in her journal beside the cooking pot while Link cooks. He's constantly looking up like he hears something, and when the food is ready, he insists they eat inside at their "very nice dining table." She rolls her eyes at his excuse to get them indoors and pushes the fabric she's spread over the table to the side so they have room to sit.

Link makes enough marinated wood pigeon for both of them, and a bass for her if she's not feeling up for game fowl. She tries the pigeon, and it's delicious enough that she goes back for a few more bites, but then her stomach gives a squeeze and she turns her attention to the vegetable side dish.

"The Yiga went into Kakariko again," he says. His face is serious, and he takes care not to eat while he speaks—although he does still eat, so it can't be all that serious.

She blinks. The Yiga tribe were cult followers of Ganon, who spent their time trying and failing to sabotage the Divine Beasts, and trying and failing to assassinate her and her father. They didn't fail for lack of trying. She hasn't thought of them at all since the Calamity's defeat. She's not sure anyone Before thought of what would become of them if the Calamity rose. It didn't seem to matter much.

Zelda can only assume that they gained power with the Calamity. They gained power with the Hylian army no longer keeping them in check. She can only guess how angry they are after their century of backing the most powerful force in the kingdom has come to an end.

"They usually stay out of towns," Link says. "But Kakariko is different. They like to mess with the Sheikah."

"I would assume there's bad blood there."

"Yeah," he says. "This time, they snuck into Impa's house. Clearly no one was home, because they're both here, but they didn't steal anything, so Dorian's assuming that it was an assassination attempt."

Fear grips at her chest. "They wanted to kill Impa?!"

He looks at her a moment, then shakes his head ever so slightly.

"They...wait. What are you saying? They want to kill _me_?"

"They really don't like you."

"But..." She searches for the right words to express her dismay. Why does she still have to deal with this? She lands on the bizarre choice of, "Why not?!"

Link's serious face melts. His lips twitch again. "I've no idea."

She huffs.

"The point is that they've heard you're around. They know you sealed the Calamity. Now they know that you're not in Kakariko."

"And it won't be long before they learn of the large contingent of Sheikah in Hateno."

Link nods.

She sighs and puts her face in her hands. "What's your plan that I'm not going to like?"

"I think you're way too vulnerable here. The Sheikah up the hill are too far away to be backup if anything happens, and unless you want them to move down here—"

"I don't."

"—Or you want to move up to the tech lab—"

"I'd rather not."

"—then it's just me protecting you 24/7."

"That...You're right. That's unfair."

"I don't mind," he says. "But sitting around here, waiting for the Yiga to find us, and knowing I'll be on my own when it happens—"

"No, of course. You're...You're right. That's far too much to ask of you. I should move up to the tech lab, or...or maybe a couple Sheikah could join us here. Maybe a rotating guard?" Maybe they could stay outside? She and Link will have to alter their sleeping arrangements in a hurry otherwise. Not that she's embarrassed or doing anything wrong, but she will definitely get a lecture, and there's no way she can get through it without lighting on fire from blushing too hard.

Perhaps the real reason she doesn't want the Sheikah around is because she wants Link to herself, and that's...not really a good reason.

But Link holds up his hand to stop her from jumping into making plans. "Or," he says. "I know you want to take some time to rest, and that you have plans to work on the slate's search functions and get your aqueduct built for the bathing room and make a new dress—"

"Tunic," she corrects.

"—But I suggest that we move on to Eldin as soon as possible."

"How soon?"

"Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow! We're not prepared! We need...fireproof elixirs. _Lots_ of fireproof elixirs."

"You could wear my flame breaker arm—"

"No."

"No. Well. I'm pretty sure, the Yiga won't follow us into the heat. They definitely won't look for us there first. So what I suggest is that we go to Foothill Stable. There are plenty of fireproof lizards around there. We can gather up enough to make a whole barrel of elixir for the trip into Eldin. And while we're there, we at least won't have the Sheikah down the road, drawing all the attention. They'll actually be drawing attention away from us."

"And towards our house."

He frowns.

All her muscles seize, and she hurries to correct herself, "Your house. Sorry! Your house."

She thinks she might throw up.

But he doesn't seem to understand her humiliated state and gives her a confused look. "Zelda, I really think we need to move on tomorrow."

She looks around the little house. _His_ house. She'd been looking forward to being home, spending some time here. Some time when she doesn't have to socialize or be engaging. Some time devoted only to the silly projects she's made for herself.

"Yes," she sighs. "Of course."

#

After so many days passing out exhausted into her bed at the Zora inn, Zelda once again has a hard time falling asleep. There are noises outside the house. Noises inside the house. They tug at her long ears, as she waits for the sound to come again, come again but closer. She listens for footsteps in the dark. She listens for an assassin on the roof.

It's absurd to be worried. What are the chances they will pick tonight to attack? (She refuses to allow herself to answer that question.) What are the chances that there's a Sheikah guard on the roof, keeping watch despite her protests? What are the chances an assassin gets into the house without waking Link, and what are the chances that Link isn't actually asleep behind her?

He seems asleep. He's breathing deeply and evenly, his chest rising and falling against her back. His arm draped over her waist is boneless.

She tries to calculate how many fireproof lizards they'll need. Then how many smutherwing butterflies—the best way to get an elixir potent enough to get to the volcano. But the butterflies are only found in areas where they'll need a less potent elixir to catch them, and if they stay for a week and a half, with potions that last six hours each, for two of them...

"Zelda, go to sleep."

She squirms around in his arms to face him. Peering up into his face in the dark, she can just make out that his eyes are still closed, his face still lax.

She says, "We'll need one fireproof lizard every six hours for each of us, that's eight a day. If we stay for two weeks that's one hundred and twelve. That's an absurd number. Do you think it's possible to create traps for them? Or put out bait? I wonder what they eat."

Link's breathing is still deep and even, his breath fanning against her face, but he's now stroking soothing circles into her back. "It sounds like what you're saying," he says, "is that you're not going to sleep anytime soon."

"For more potent elixirs, we'll need two smutherwing butterflies each for a six-hour dose. If we only go to the volcano for one six-hour trip a day that's only twenty-eight butterflies, but they are difficult to catch. Unless something has changed. Has that changed? Perhaps we should construct some butterfly feeders to lure them in."

"I can hum you a lullaby if you want."

"We used to have several in the castle gardens. For attracting butterflies, you know, so they could be admired. Not so they could be captured and turned into elixir. But if we're going to encourage trade into Eldin, it would be a good idea to make accessible the resources necessary to do so."

"I can heat up some milk for you. That's supposed to be helpful."

"But—oh no—what if by harvesting smutherwing butterflies we reduce their population too sharply? I wonder if anyone has already done a population study. Perhaps we could breed them! I've never done something like that, and it is slightly outside my realm of expertise. And it sounds tedious. Did you meet anyone on your travels who might be interested in butterfly husbandry?"

"I think we still have some of that sleepy tea."

"And how many monster parts have you accumulated? With what you currently have and what you gather on the way to Goron City, will we have enough, or will we need to visit an encampment before we visit Death Mountain?"

Link groans and flops over onto his back, pulling both his arms from around her to rub his face.

"I'm sorry," she says. "I'll be quiet again."

"Nope. Nope. Get up."

"What?"

"If you're not going to sleep, then let's at least do something useful. Get dressed."

A few minutes later, they're standing outside. There's no moon, so it's strangely dark, casting her quiet town into forms she can't recognize. Link is fully armed, and the strangeness of that too makes her shiver.

They head north, towards town and through it, and it's not long before she can see the glowing purple balloon.

"This is Kilton," Link says before they get too close. "The guy's a weirdo. Don't let him frighten you too much. But also don't get too comfortable."

In the little house under the balloon is a man with skin as gray as a silver moblin. Zelda can't tell if he paints himself that color, or if he's eaten something that hasn't set well. His hair is falling out, and she doesn't want to make judgements about how bulbous his eyes are. He's wearing green, scaled gloves that make it look like he has lizalfo hands.

He greats them with a ringing, "Woo Whoo!" and leans over his counter to thrust his face in Link's direction, taking several deep sniffs. Zelda feels a full-body shudder coming on, but Link doesn't even blink, much less pull away in disgust.

"You've got monster parts on you!"

"Sure do. I'm going to need twenty-eight monster extracts."

There's a light in Kilton's huge eyes. "I have the extract if you have the mon."

"What's mon?" Zelda asks.

"It's currency, only used at the Fang and Bone," Link says.

That sounds pretty worthless to Zelda, but then Link starts pulling out Lynel guts and exchanging them for mon, and then it makes more sense. And also less sense.

When Kilton turns away to lovingly place the monster innards in a chest, Zelda leans in to whisper, "What does he _do_ with them?"

Link leans toward her as well. "Let's pretend he studies them. Or he's like an apothecary. He does make monster extract."

"What's monster extract?"

"It's _very_ special," Kilton says, turning around with his arms full of small, purple vials. "It's the most delicious spice, made of delicious monsters. You can put it in food! You can put it in elixirs! It has amazing benefits."

"This," Link says, holding up a bottle, "will make a fireproof elixir that lasts thirty hours."

"What?! How?"

She snatches the bottle away from him to look at it from the side. Slightly viscous. Of unknown color because it seems the bottle itself is purple. Leaving behind tears on the inside of the glass like legs on a fine wine. She looks at it from the bottom and notes some light sedimentation. She un-stoppers the cork to waft the scent towards her, and immediately gags and covers her nose in the crook of her elbow. Her eyes burn. It smells like pure alcohol. Maybe Link just hallucinated this thirty-hour elixir duration.

"Ah ah ah! That's my little secret. But if you ever need more, you know where to find me."

"You've got monster masks, right?" Link asks, and Kilton excitedly pulls out a series of terrifyingly constructed monster heads, each to be worn like a hat to confuse monsters into not attacking you.

"No no no, he's got it all wrong," Kilton says. "You wear them so the monsters accept you as one of their own. So you can bond with them! So you can become one of them!"

Link is holding a lizalfo hat with one button eye coming loose. Zelda leans in for a better look.

"Do they actually work?" she asks.

Kilton says, "Yes!" as Link makes a so-so hand gesture behind the lizalfo hat so Kilton can't see it.

Link holds up the hat and raises an eyebrow at her. "Say the word, and I'll buy this for you."

She manages to say, "No, thank you," in a way that doesn't offend Kilton too much, but conveys to Link exactly what she thinks about _that_ plan. The smile Link cracks warms her chest.

Besides, she could make a much more accurate mask herself if she put her mind to it. Those seams are so poorly done! Those fabrics are a patchwork! She almost wants to offer Kilton her sewing services just to put an end to shoddy workmanship.

"I was wondering, though," Link says. "You wouldn't happen to have a Yiga clan outfit, would you?"

Zelda jumps when Kilton screams, "Yiga!" pounding his hands against the counter and jumping with irritation. "I collect _monsters_."

Link holds up his hands in surrender and hands the lizalfo hat back. "Sorry. Sorry. You're absolutely right. My mistake."

On the walk home, she says, "I can't believe you were about to dress me up like a Yiga clan member."

"They basically just wear what the Sheikah wear, except red. That outfit's downright comfy. Maybe we could dye it for you."

"I don't know what to do with you sometimes."

"Just trying to help you relax. Don't think for a second that I believe you're losing sleep over _butterfly husbandry_."

"You're the one worrying. I'm just worrying because you're worrying, and you've convinced me it's something worth worrying about."

"Would it help if I kept watch tonight? Let you sleep?"

"No," she says. Snuggling will definitely help more than having him hover and remind her there's danger.

"Well, there's something else I want to show you," he says. They've just crossed the bridge over the ravine, and he stops and points to the roof of the house.

For a moment, she can't tell what he wants her to look at. But then there's a shape there, only just visible as a more solid kind of shadow crouched beside their chimney. She squints, and the shape becomes a person, becomes an assassin.

But Link squeezes her arm. "That's Paya keeping watch."

She barely manages to breathe again. "You trust her?" she asks.

"With my life," he says guiding her back to the house. "And, more importantly, with yours."


	14. Chapter 14 Eldin

Zelda is very good at catching lizards, if she does say so herself. With just a bit of quiet, patient observation, she knows three different spots near the stable where the lizards frequent. She doesn't mind waiting, and doesn't mind sneaking up on the creatures, crawling forward a foot at a time through the dirt and dust. Her knees are stained red-brown by mid-morning.

Link believes the best way to catch lizards is to outrun them, so he does a lot of charging and diving and coming out of a roll with a terrorized lizard held up over his head in victory. By noon, Zelda has caught ten and Link has caught six, and Link declares her the victor of a game they weren't playing and focuses instead on killing monsters.

He dispatches the ice wizrobe right beside the stable, and Zelda hangs back and catches a lizard.

They stroll down into the canyon, and Zelda lingers behind, taking her time so she doesn't slip on the incline, and catches a lizard.

He fires an arrow into a skull shaped cave, causing an explosion, and Zelda grabs a lizard that runs from the noise.

He pops out of the next camp with an amber in one hand and a new claymore in the other. Zelda pops up from behind a rock with a lizard in each hand.

They have all the lizards they'll need for a two week trip by the time the sun sets, and they take turns at the cook pot-Zelda mixing the next few day's worth of elixirs and Link cooking up some curry pilaf.

As Zelda stoppers the last elixir, a woman nearby gives her a dirty look. Zelda is not at all used to people giving her dirty looks, and at first she's pleased that no one here knows her as the princess. (The knowledge of who she was didn't cut out all the dirty looks, but it at least hid them.) But then she starts to worry that perhaps the woman is in the Yiga clan.

"She sells fireproof elixirs," Link says in an undertone. His eyes sparkle as he looks up at her, bent over the cook pot. "You're putting her out of business."

"Oh!" She looks down at the bottle in her hand. This is the opposite of encouraging trade and entrepreneurship. But on the other hand... "I certainly sympathize. But I'm hardly going to stop what I'm doing."

"Yeah, you're done now anyway."

"It's not as if I'm selling our elixirs to other travelers. She's losing out on our business, but no one else's. We're not even sharing our recipe."

"And it's not like you're rubbing it in her face by making elixirs ten times as powerful as hers."

"If they're more powerful, that's your doing, and ten times seems an exaggeration. And I'm still not sure I believe this thirty-hour nonsense. And I am not rubbing it in her face!"

He smiles and holds out spoon for her to taste the pilaf. She tries it and nods her approval, and he reaches out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. It may not be blistering yet this low on the mountain, but it is hot, and her hair has started to frizz and escape her kerchief, especially after all of today's lizard gathering. She hurries to right it, and as she does, she accidentally locks eyes with the elixir woman. Her look has turned even dirtier, and Zelda realizes it's not her elixir making skills she's rubbing in the woman's face.

She darts a look at Link and then away, and bends low to fix her hair and hide the sudden heat in her cheeks.

#

Link is going to get every last lizalfo on Death Mountain. It's a more difficult journey than their march to the Zora Domain, where the road twisted and turned and there was plenty of cover and plenty of places for her to hang back out of sight. The path into Eldin is made of long, straight stretches with almost no cover. They can see the lizalfos from far off, and it's still an unanswered question if the monsters can see them or not. Link does an awful lot of charging ahead.

The path is not as defined on the volcano as it is in the Domain. Monsters appear below and above, and Link drops off the trail to get some stray chuchus on a lower level, charging back to get the next group up ahead.

He seems almost disappointed that the guardian that used to block the path is now deactivated. He frowns down at it, before sinking into a crouch to dig through its innards. He hands screws over his shoulder for her to take, and when he's done, he pats the machine's side before pushing himself up.

"Want to check out the tower?" he asks.

Of course she wants to check out the tower.

The region seems to be populated mostly by taluses and wizrobes. There's only a single hinox out beyond the volcano.

"Should we check for lizalfos?" he asks.

She cringes. "We could. But I suspect there are so many that to mark them all would take us hours and require more pins than the slate has."

Link frowns out at the mountain, at the trail ahead. "I just want to make sure we get them all."

"Why not make a couple passes first? Come back in a week and see what you've missed."

He grins at her. Then he plucks up the slate and adjusts it himself.

Zelda hasn't paid much attention to the monsters in the compendium, and she hasn't noticed before that Link has pictures of Yiga clan mambers. He sets the guidance stone to search, then steps back to let the blue liquid run its course. He smirks, holding it up so she can see there are no new marks.

"That's why you took so long picking up Symin the other day. Did you find any then?"

"No," he says, handing the slate back to her. "So who knows? Maybe it doesn't work."

"It works."

"So confident," he teases.

"Of course."

At least, she's confident until they have to descend the tower. There's no good way to warp to the bottom. More than once she falls on Link as she reaches a platform, but he catches her around the waist each time and sets her on her feet.

#

They reach an intersection, with one branch trailing down towards the lava. It's clearly not the path, but it's also just the kind of place the lizalfos would gather. Up ahead, the path is enclosed on both sides by looming walls, and it seems the path itself is blocked at the end by a wall of cooled lava flow.

Link stops, assessing the situation. She can't really fathom what kind of dilemma he's having. Does he want to clear out all the lizalfos so badly that he'll take a detour? The plan was to walk to Goron City and clear the monsters _on the way_. Is he worried that she won't be able to scale the lava flow, and therefore he's looking for an alternate route? She checks the map, trying to see what he's thinking. She startles at the pin ahead.

There's a talus blocking the path.

She leans around Link's shoulder and squints to try to make it out, but she can't tell which batch of lava is the monster.

"There." He points.

The pointing is not helpful.

She asks, "Are we going around, or am I hanging back?"

"If it sees you, it'll throw flaming boulders at you."

"Naturally."

"But the best place to hide is over there, and I just know some lizalfo is going to wander up the second I'm not paying attention."

She sighs.

"I should have bought that lizalfo hat," he sighs. "Or let some of the Sheikah come with us. I don't know, do you want to just warp the rest of the way?"

She scowls at him. "We know I can handle a single lizalfo. I've got ice arrows and the slate. "

"These lizalfos breathe fire."

"And I am currently fireproof."

He sighs, "Zelda."

She unslings her bow, nooks an arrow, and ducks down behind a rock, lifting her eyebrows at him until he groans, scrapes a hand through his hair, and pulls out the biggest sledge hammer she's ever seen. "I'm buying all the hats as soon as we get to Goron City," he mutters. Then he darts off to take down a rock monster, probably intending to defeat it before he changes his mind that leaving her is a bad idea.

The ground shakes as the creature rises from the ground, and Zelda sneaks a peak intending to snap a better picture for her compendium. But...it's much larger than she expected. And it's molten. And it's slamming a fist down towards Link, who's back-flipping away, and shooting it with an ice arrow so it's fire goes out in a poof. He jumps up the monster's back in two quick leaps, and he spins the sledge hammer over his head for momentum before letting it fly, spinning around and around, and she can hear the monster's deep, shocked grunts with every hit against the ore deposit on its back. She can feel every strike through the ground.

She can also see the creature revving up to fight back. The way steam rises from its surface. The way it braces its arms against the ground. It's ready to light back on fire, and Link is still spinning, so, so close. It's almost down. He's racing against time. One hit. Another. The beast growls.

Zelda pops up from behind her rock and puts an ice arrow through its head. With a groan like a rock slide, it falls back on its face. The deep rumble sends a shower of pebbles down from the walls. Link hits it four more times, and then it explodes beneath him in a cloud of purple smoke. Gemstones rain from the sky, and Zelda walks up and plucks up a ruby as big as her head.

Link narrows his eyes at her.

"What?" she asks, tucking away her bow and adjusting her quiver like a prim princess, expecting some new lecture that she knows she'll ignore and he knows she'll ignore.

"That was nice shooting," he says and drops an opal into her hand.

They stand there a moment, caught up in looking pleased with each other.

Even though she's surrounded by lizalfos, even though she just watched a lava monster try to kill her protector/friend/roommate person, even though she's dirty and sweaty, she thinks the elixir woman at the stable was right to be jealous. Everyone should be jealous.


	15. Chapter 15 Eldin

The Gorons of the Southern Mine approved of Link's new buddy. The new little Hylian was inquisitive and enthusiastic about all manner of mining procedures, no matter how boring or pedantic. She swelled with excitement for the work they had done and the work they could do, bouncing excitedly it a way the Gorons found delightfully strange.

Gorons don't bounce.

She wanted to know about smelting and iron working and stone work. Could they build walls? Could they build roads? Could they build bridges? Could they build pipes? She tried to take notes in a journal made of paper, but the pages caught fire in her hand, and she squeaked and tossed it to the ground and stomped on it and shoved it away in her pack before it could light again. She then pulled out Link's strange Shiekah device and took notes on that as if she hadn't been slowed down at all.

None of the construction projects she suggested made any sense. Yeah, they could help her build a wall or a building out of bricks or stone, but why not just be out in the air? It's so nice out. Yeah, they could fix a bridge, but that seemed like a thing you'd do if you wanted to cross a river, and that sounded like a big expedition to somewhere cold with bad food. Who needed that? And, yeah, they could help her make her pipes, easy peasey, but it sounded like she wanted to move water around, and what was the point of that?

Not that the told her any of this. The eccentric Hylian had eccentric plans, but her excitement was contagious and she was very kind about the whole thing. Let her have fun constructing her weird Hylian inventions. To each their own.

#

Zelda wakes in a blind panic, with Ganon's hot, damp breath squeezing her tight. She gasps but can't breathe as flaming embers of malice flutter before her eyes. It's dark and close and hot and he's suffocating her, just as he's suffocated her every day for a century, and she clutches at her throat. He's laughing, laughing, laughing, and she wants to scream but she's choking.

Zelda? Zelda?

She's drenched in sweat and there's malice everywhere. It floats before her eyes and it's all she can see and it eats at her skin. It grabs her face, hot and tacky, and she cries out and jerks back. Ganon's laugh is a roar in her ears, louder louder until the demon is just screaming.

Cold grabs her face this time, and she squeaks in shock, but it's holding her firm and she can't pull away. It holds her jaw, hooks under her ears. Malice isn't cold.

"Zelda, close your eyes."

Malice isn't cold. She closes her eyes, tries to focus on the cold, but she's still gasping for breath, her chest heaving and tight and stabbing. Cold fingertips brush the back of her hair line. Cold thumbs hold her cheeks. Cold fingers find the soft places under her jaw.

"That's it. Breathe."

The hands on her face are warming as she sucks the chill from them. One hand vanishes as she tries to slow her breathing. It reappears refreshed and chilling again, and she shudders as it cups her face. So so gently. The warm hand disappears, and she leans into the cold.

He switches hands again and again, chilling one while the other comforts her. He presses his palm to the back of her neck. He presses his palm to her chest, cupping the base of her throat between thumb and forefinger, calloused finger draining the heat from her collarbone. He presses a palm to her forehead, and her face smooths under his care, her face tilting back and her lips parting, and slowly, slowly, she remembers.

Link. Eldin. They made camp at the Southern Mine.

She tries to place herself. Tries to observe. Use her ears. Hear what's actually there.

But what's actually there is a heat like Ganon and the crackling sound of malice.

And the cold. The cold she can latch onto. The cold isn't in her memories, but it's here. Now. In the future.

"I'm slipping a hand down the back of your shirt. Alright?"

She nods, and he rolls forward for a better angle, slipping a cool palm down her spine to rest between her shoulder blades. She lets out a breathy whimper, and opens her eyes.

"There you are," Link says. His voice is quiet. He smiles at her, but there's concern on his face. He's trying to hide it. His eyes are the wrong color. They're flat black and sparking with orange as they catch the fire. They're not blue at all. She shuts her eyes before her stomach can twist.

He has a frost blade in his lap, and he's clutching it with his free hand. It must hurt to be so close to it. She wants to be closer to it.

"Did the elixir stop working?" she asks.

"Nah," he murmurs. "Just a panic attack."

She snorts. It's undignified.

He shifts to change hands, pulling her hair over her shoulder as he sends cold down her spine.

She bows forward to rest her forehead on his shoulder. Her face is tacky with evaporated tears. She lets the chill of the blade rise up to cool her face. She wants to take it and tuck it under her armpit, where it will burn so cold, where it'll cool her whole body. She wants to lie down again and clutch it to her chest. If someone had told her a hundred years ago that she would want to snuggle with a giant, frozen sword, she would have scoffed at them.

"I'm such a mess," she moans.

"Hey, you're back to feeling embarrassed when you shouldn't be. That means you're feeling better."

In a small voice she asks, "Do you have any water?" She tries not to whine when he pulls away to shift through his stuff. Her head still rests on his shoulder, and the blade still radiates cold below her, but the heat reclaims where his hands held her. It takes a while for him to find the bottle of water.

"Careful. I dropped an ice arrow in there."

He did. The fletching sticks out of the jar, which grows colder as she holds it. She has to shift the arrow to the side to drink. The water's lukewarm as it hits her tongue.

When she's done, she rests her head back onto his shoulder.

"It's just...the heat. It's like..."

He waits for her to finish. It's unlike her not to finish. But she can't bring herself to describe the Calamity's breath with words.

Link knows what she means anyway. "Do we need to warp out of here?" he asks. "We can go to Rito Village first."

"No. I just need to...I need..." She needs to cool down, which is impossible, because she's surrounded by fire. Everything's burning. Her city is burning, and she's walking into it, and she's lifting a hand—

She grabs the ice arrow out of the empty bottle and presses the flat of the head against her breast bone. She hisses at the painful cold through her thin, red shirt, but the sting snatches her thoughts away and keeps them from spiraling. Link pulls her kerchief from her hair, eases the arrow away from her, and wraps it up to protect her before handing it back. It's not nearly as potent, and now her wild hair is free for all to see. She glares up at Link from her spot against his chest.

He is unmoved. He slides a cold hand to the small of her back under her shirt, and she shudders and closes her eyes, focusing on just his hand and breathing.

#

The Gorons roll up and greet them when they enter Goron City. They just do it individually, unlike other places where Link and Zelda had found themselves in the center of a swarm. Only half of the Gorons ask for things or let them know about problems. Mostly, they're just glad to see Link and meet Link's new friend. Those who do have issues that Link and Zelda could solve mostly talk about how the monsters are back at North Mine. Perhaps once they resolve that, the Gorons will open up about their other areas of concern.

Zelda's secretly relieved that the Gorons seem so relaxed. She's still jumping at movement out of the corners of her eyes. She spins to find nothing there but lava she mistook for malice. She's not sure how well she would have dealt with a dozen Gorons pinning her in, squeezing into her space, telling her of a thousand horrible problems.

Link leads her to Bludo the boss' house, where Bludo slaps his shoulder in greeting, and even though the boss seems on the frail side for a Goron, Link's knees still almost buckle. Zelda has such a strong sense of double vision, of the past and the future plying out before her eyes in exactly the same ways, that it's Daruk before her, ready to throw back his head and laugh like an avalanche, that she lowers her eyes to look at the floor to disrupt the vision.

"This is Zelda," Link says, rather than introducing her as the princess. She's not surprised that word of who she is hasn't reached the Gorons. They just opened the path to the city behind them, and the Zora have even more trouble than Hylians getting here. Hopefully, the Zoras won't spread it around too far. Hopefully, if they do mention it, the rest of Hyrule will dismiss the notion.

The boss peeks at her with one squinted eye. "The famous Zelda," he says. Then he complains about his back. Zelda adds it to her short list of complaints. She bets the Gerudo have something that would help him. They used to have a thick paste that they would rub on sore muscles, and it would heat and heat until the muscles eased. It smelled awful and medicinal.

She wonders if Link might have some squirreled away on his person at this very moment.

"We figured when Vah Rudania shot that big ol' explosion towards the castle and then shut down, that you'd beat that Calamity something fierce," Bludo says. "Well, Yunobo was convinced it was you, any how. Kept going on about it. So, yeah. Not surprising to hear."

"Zelda helped," Link says.

"Did you? Well, good job, little brother!"

It takes Zelda a second to realize he's speaking to her. "You're—You're too kind," she says. She ducks a short bow and rallies. "And now that the Calamity is over, we're hoping to rebuild some of the deteriorating infrastructure. It would be immensely helpful if we could ask for the Goron's expertise in these areas."

The boss seems almost interested in the Zora reservoir repairs. He scratches his chin and stares into space and says, "Hmmmm."

He's less interested in renewed trade and the mail system that Zelda wants to bring back once the roads are safe to travel.

He scoffs that they want to bring Vah Rudania back online.

"They say it used to protect us once," he says. "But I've never seen it do anything other than stomp around and make trouble and then shut itself off."

"With a new pilot, I believe she can once again be a force for good."

"And that new pilot would be you, would it?"

Zelda pulls back in surprise. "I...Of course not! We've never even considered anyone other than a Goron for the role. We'd hoped that you would have a recommendation. Someone with strength of spirit and a kind heart, a champion like Lord Daruk."

"No one's like Lord Daruk," Bludo mutters. "They don't make them that way anymore. But you're trying to get me to say Yunobo. Don't pretend you're not. Fine. Take him. He's the only one who'd be even slightly interested. He's been going on about the old beast anyway. But if he blows up anything important, that's on you."

Link grins at her, but Zelda doesn't know what to make of this. Can they truly have a Champion who has only the grudging support of his people? Although she herself was never technically a Champion, she supposes the same could have been said about her. Does she really want to put someone in the embarrassing position she once held? But then again, the stakes now are much lower. It's not life or death and the end of the world.

"What do you think about what Bludo said? About how no one is like Lord Daruk anymore?" Zelda asks over dinner. The Gorons let Link cook on the big grill, but she can tell how disgusted they are with Hylian food. "Perhaps in the interviewing years, Daruk's legacy has been embellished. Now he's some kind of mythical figure."

Link shrugs and talks between mouthfuls of curry. "He was a great guy."

"Oh, unquestionably. He was a tremendous leader and a brilliant warrior. He was a true friend. But he was not without fault. It seems as if those faults are no longer a part of his story. Now no one can live up to him."

"Faults like what?"

"Like...not that he was a coward, but he worried. And those worries distracted him. They ate at him. And—surely you must remember—he was kind hearted, but that meant he sometimes had trouble being decisive."

"Sounds like Yunobo," Link says.

"It just...it worries me to think of what they might expect of new Champions. How they could ever live up to expectations." She worries what the stories say about her.

He takes another bite and chews as he squints out over the cityscape. Zelda's trying not to look at it, focusing instead on her dinner. "You know what I remember?" he asks. "I remember that he liked me. I don't remember very many people liking me."

"What?"

"I mean, I get that my memories are spotty, and they all have the inevitable apocalypse as a background. The king and Urbosa had bigger things to deal with than me. And Revali was...well...Revali. And you were..."

"I was me?" She gives him a self-deprecating smile.

He returns a real smile. "You were you."

Then he's looking back at the city again. "But Daruk, he was kind. He was affectionate. He liked me and didn't care who knew it."

Zelda watches him for a long moment as he shrugs and eats more curry. She turns to try to see what he sees out over the lava and leans her shoulder against his.


	16. Chapter 16 Eldin

The other Gorons may not be excited for Vah Rudania's return, but Yunobo is not like other Gorons.

Yunobo taps the tips of his fingers together when he's concerned. He shifts, almost hopping, from one foot to the other when that concern grows into anxiety.

He wears the emblem that Daruk used to wear. Not just the same design, _the same_ emblem. He cradles it in his hands when Zelda asks about it, and says it was a gift from his father. The emblem holds together a light blue bandana the size of a table cloth. It's close to the garment Zelda made for Daruk before the Calamity. It's so similar that she's done at least four double takes, catching sight of him from the corner of her eye, her brain startling at how the colors have stayed so vibrant before she remembers. But it's not the same cloth on which she once worked. The embroidery is a different design. Not as detailed. (Not as neat.)

Sometimes she catches herself staring at him, catches herself designing a new sash for him more like the one Daruk once wore. Or would Yunobo rather continue to wear something around his neck and shoulders? However he wears it, she will have to make it attach to the emblem better than the messy square knots he's currently using.

Sometimes she catches herself staring at the curve of his cheek or the dent in his elbow. The resemblance strikes her in unexpected ways.

They head up the volcano, climbing as close to the Divine Beast as they can get. Vah Rudania's back half is still inside the crater, and in her current position, the floor is too steep to be usable. The warp point is sideways, and therefore also unusable until they can adjust her positioning. Her head and front feet are outside the crater, and Link bursts into the air in a gale of magical wind to make sure there's a landing point around her shoulders. Zelda calculates how far that landing is from the ground, how long a ladder they'll need.

It would be much easier to do calculations in her journal, but all she has is the slate, where she can only write numbers in rows instead of columns. She makes do. Yunobo leans over her shoulder to watch her, and she holds it out to show him her notes, talking through the math. He makes a face and scratches the side of his head.

"Wow. You're, like, _really_ smart. Aren't you?" He drums his fingertips together.

They can't use a rope ladder like they used to reach Vah Ruta. They need a ladder that will not instantly burst into flames. "Perhaps made of chain instead of rope," Zelda says.

"Oh!" Yunobo straightens. "Oh! I can help with that!"

He takes her to the forge in town and shows her how to make links and chain them together. She peers around his arm to watch, and he tries his best to explain what he's doing as he does it. The other Gorons in the forge chime in when words fail him, but for the most part, they're pretending to mind their own business. Yunobo pinches each hot, thin rod of iron into a ring-an unusually delicate procedure considering the size of his fingers.

"You're quite skilled at this," she says.

He rubs the back of his neck and refuses to meet her eyes.

Link squeezes her arm, confident that she's settled and safe and not in need of him or the slate. Then he trots off to the North Mine to deal with the monster problem there. Zelda doesn't mind. She has her hands full.

It takes some creativity to figure out a way for her to mimic Yunobo. She ends up with over-large, thick gloves and a pair of tongs in each hand, and she manages to coordinate her movements enough to close the rings together-although she can't do so without jutting out her elbows and biting her lower lip. Yunobo strings a dozen links together in the time it takes her to do one, but she just learned this today, so that seems reasonable. The other Gorons in the forge relax as she shows herself to be not completely useless, and they stomp up to lean in over her shoulder and watch her work.

Their advice comes more often. They pick back up a murmured conversation, and Zelda realizes that they must have stopped talking when she came in.

One Goron hums a song, a tune picked up in harmony by a second Goron, and then a third. Yunobo hums a bass line, although all the parts could be described as bass lines. Zelda's not sure if joining them would be welcomed. Her voice is probably too high anyway.

After consulting Zelda's notes, the Gorons adjust the original plan of two chains connected by rungs of metal rods. The design is now four chains supporting wide, rectangular steps that can be anchored to the mountain at an angle to form stairs that will better support their weight. And by "their weight" they mean Yunobo's weight.

"That sounds a bit permanent," Zelda says. "I'd hate for you to go through so much trouble constructing this for it to be unusable the moment Vah Rudania moves."

The Gorons unanimously dismiss this. When the Divine Beast moves, they will simply melt what they made down to make something else. It's not like this will take too long or be too difficult.

Then someone suggests hand rails, and then they're making hand rails.

Link returns as the sun sets, at which point Zelda and all four Gorons in the forge are working on the stairs. Link nearly laughs at her, wedged between four humming boulders, all of whom are doing delicate pinching movements with their fingers. They look like a funny knitting circle.

Then Link frowns at the mess they've made. "You do remember that I have to carry this up to the Divine Beast, right?"

This sparks a debate over if they should shoot the ladder-turned-staircase at Vah Rudania with a cannon. Or if they should haul it up with a pulley system. Zelda is firmly on the side of the pulley system. So then they're designing a pulley system, and Link is shaking his head and going to make dinner.

She doesn't want to sleep. For some reason, her brain accepts the excessive heat from the forge, but once she's outside, the flashbacks start. The inn is too confined, too dark, the bed too hard, even though the close quarters of the forge aren't any better in that regard. Maybe it's because in the forge she's never alone. Maybe it's because when she's in the forge, she's active. She's not staring at the ceiling, trying to not remember.

So she stays up and works. She's much ore helpful putting the pulley system together than she was making chain.

The last Goron yawns, hangs up his tools, and gives her shoulder a light squeeze goodnight.

Link threads his fingers together and leans forward in his seat to rest his elbows on his knees.

She pretends she doesn't notice the pointed look he gives her.

"It really doesn't get any cooler at night," she says. Her face is probably the same color as her shirt, which is slicked with sweat. She pay her own weight in diamonds if she could remove it without anyone judging her. (And by "anyone" she means Link, because the Gorons probably wouldn't even notice.) She thinks about asking him if he'd perhaps just not look at her, but then again, that much bare skin would probably be shockingly unsafe near the forge.

Link digs through his supplies and comes around the work bench to drop a sapphire circlet over her head. It's...slightly better.

She must doze a bit then, because she just stares into his eyes for far too long. "You've had an active day. You should sleep," she says.

"You should sleep," he counters. "The Gorons have a massage package at the inn. That might help."

She narrows her eyes at him. "How painful is it?"

He doesn't answer her, and her frown deepens.

He slides the axle from her hands and pulls her to her feet before frog marching her from the forge. "Come on, grumpy. Come have sweet dreams about math."

"I'll have sweet dreams about getting to use my journal again," she mutters.

She's up before the sun the next day, and once Link has made breakfast, he's off to destroy a talus. Zelda's hair almost catches fire, and she braids it all back and up, protecting it all with her kerchief. She's covered in dark smudges, and Link's gone ten minutes before she rolls the hem of her shirt up her midriff.

One of the Gorons takes some scrap and pounds and bends and chisels it into a thick bracelet, at which point he presents it to Zelda. She likes the unfinished edges. She likes how rough it feels against her wrist.

Word has already spread from the stable that the road to Goron City is clear enough for brisk travel, and the first Hylian travelers arrive by mid-morning.

Zelda has spent long enough in the forge that the Goron's change in demeanor is clear. Their low ruble of conversation tickles to a stop. They straighten, as if trying to make themselves taller or trying to crane their necks enough to watch the visitors. They're not _watching_ the newcomers-a pair of Hylians in brown traveling clothes, with large packs on their backs-but the whole attention of the forge seems to pivot as the visitors walk past the forge and towards the inn.

After the visitors settle, they make lunch and eat it in almost the exact same spot she and Link eat each night. Their legs dangle over the edge of the cliff, as if they're sitting on the edge of a river bank rather than a stream of lava.

Buliara leans down and rests a hand on her shoulder to rumble into her ear. He thinks he's whispering, but his voice is too low for secrets. Luckily, the Hylians are far away. "Why do they travel together if they don't like each other?"

"What makes you think they don't like each other?" They seem perfectly amicable to her. They're sitting side by side and chatting, although she has no idea what they're talking about.

"They don't touch," he says. "At all. It's strange, goro. Do you think one of them has a contagious disease?"

She laughs. "No. Hylians just don't touch each other as often as Gorons do. We believe giving each other space is a sign of respect."

He frowns down at her, then at the arm he has draped over her back. For a moment, she thinks he might pull away, but instead he says, "But you're not like that."

"I know that physical contact among Gorons is a sign of trust. I'm not offended at all. I'm honored. You don't need to change your behavior in the slightest."

He hums, still looking confused. "But, brother, you and Link touch all the time."

Her face feels very warm. Because she's in a forge on Death Mountain. "Yes. Well," she says, and returns to her work.

By the time they're ready with the pulley system to install the stairs, several more Gorons have become invested in the project. They're not invested in Vah Rudania. They're invested in the construction. They load everything onto a cart and haul it all up the volcano, where they clear some space and set up a temporary camp.

Link is absolutely boggled that this has become such a huge project, but Zelda's excited by the level of involvement. While he frowns up at the Divine Beast, Zelda hugs his arm and bounces with excitement. "It's happening," she whispers.

It takes all day to get the pulley system in place. They have to haul a cannon closer to shoot Yunobo up to the landing point. He clutches the largest part of the pulley to his chest. It takes all the next day to get the stairs anchored and stretched, with a dozen Gorons hauling on chains from below, with Link and Yunobo hauling from above, with Gorons hammering the anchors to the ground and latching the stairs to Vah Rudania with specially made hooks. When Zelda finally scales the Divine Beast, she's welcomed by a hazy view of all Hyrule on one side and the inside of the volcano on the other.

The inside of the Divine Beast is a cave. It's pitch black and empty and echoing with the floor a hundred feet below them. She's still reeling at the sight of it, but the Gorons are already planning internal scaffolding. The stairs stay in place. The pulley system is moved to lower things into the beast's belly. More Gorons arrive to help.

Yunobo leans in with a grin and says, "We haven't had this much fun in years!"

#

Zelda dreams that Link is kissing her neck. He has her pressed against a wall inside Vah Rudania. He's dressed as he's been dressed the last few days, working outside Vah Rudania: his hair is up like a desert voe, and he has nothing across his chest but the belts that hold his equipment in place. His hands burn trails down her sides.

She wakes up still inside the Divine Beast, where she's taken to sleeping because it's infinitely more comfortable and she has fewer panic attacks. They've been setting up platforms that hang from the ceiling and provide access to the control units. Half way down there's a wall-now-floor that once divided the beast into two rooms and now acts as a base camp where Zelda sleeps. The Divine Beast is climate controlled, which is something she'll have to investigate once Vah Rudania is turned on. Is it just a function of the material from which she's made? Is there some sort of cooling system in the walls? Anyway, it's a decent temperature inside, and the only thing on fire is the string of lanterns they've put up for light.

Well, the lanterns and her face, because even now that she's awake, Link is still kissing her neck.

Sometime in the night, he has snuggled his way half on top of her and nuzzled his face up against her neck. He twitches in his sleep. Chapped lips flicker over her pulse point. His fingers spasm against the small of her back. His breaths are shallow and uneven, catching in his chest and catching against her skin.

At least he's wearing a shirt.

She lies very still and lets herself imagine for a moment that it's real. That he's not just having a twitchy dream, or if he is that it's at least a dream about her. She imagines for a moment that he's not just a snuggly guy with a sense of personal space he clearly picked up from the Gorons. She imagines that he loves her with a passion, instead of loving her because they're bound by destiny and trusting companionship and shared trauma. She imagines she's the reason his breath catches. She imagines his hand dragging down to her thigh.

She decides to get an early start to the day.


	17. Chapter 17 Eldin

They have every control panel on Vah Rudania activated except the main control unit. It's on the outside, down her back, and they construct a kind of cage that can be lowered down with the pulley system. They've reinvented the pulley system twice, and it can now be operated by a single Goron. It's as close to the platforms that lower into the shrines as they're going to get with their current level of technology, and Zelda is pleased with their progress.

The bars are far enough apart that even Yunobo can reach through, but close enough together that Zelda won't fall out, even when Vah Rudania moves. Which she will hopefully do once they've activated her and partnered her with Yunobo.

The cage sways and shudders as Yunobo hops from foot to foot. "Oooh," he moans. "But what if it doesn't work?" He tugs the emblem at his throat back and forth, rasping his bandana against the back of his neck.

Zelda smiles up at him, and wraps an arm around his elbow. "If it doesn't work today, then we will try again tomorrow."

The rasping picks up speed. "But what if it doesn't work tomorrow?"

"Then we will try again the day after."

"But what if you get tired waiting for Rudania to like me?"

"Why on earth wouldn't she like you?"

Instead of answering, he moans again.

"Well, that's just silly," she says.

"She's lucky to have you," Link says. "I bet she knows it too."

He shoots Zelda a wink. Only someone with a total lack of control over her emotions would blush at something that makes so little sense.

The cage jerks to a halt. It does that every time. She's yet to figure out a way to prevent it. She half suspects that the Goron handling the crank is not stopping as gently as she has requested, but she can't complain as he is doing her a great service working the crank at all. Although, he's certainly not doing as much work as the previous models of the pulley system required. The current model has a twenty-to-one mechanical advantage. And she developed the breaking system, so he no longer has to brace the crank in place, preventing the cage from lowering further, or dropping a few sickening feet, or falling into the lava while they work.

The activation terminal for the main control unit is in the most awkward place possible, facing towards Vah Rudania's tail. So it is underneath the bulky control unit. To get underneath it, they lower past the unit on the right, then a loose chain is lowered down to them around the control unit on the left. Zelda uses the magnesis rune to grab it and bring it closer, so Yunobo can secure it with a locking hook onto the top of their cage. Link gives a sharp whistle, and both chains tighten until they are settled right underneath the console.

Zelda hops up on a crate put inside the cage just for her to be taller. She takes a deep breath, and looks down at Yunobo. "Are you ready?"

He tugs one last time on his bandana, then snaps his arms to his sides and straightens his back to attention so quickly that the cage sways.

She smiles down at him, and lifts the slate over her head, slipping it through the bars, and placing it against the terminal.

The terminal lights blue. Then the whole unit glows, an eerie blue washing over their faces. Strands of light arc and swirl from the unit, whispering through the air, flying towards her. They feel almost tentative when they approach, and she steels herself against them and pulls the slate to her chest. _No_ , she thinks at them. _Not me_.

The strands pulse back, then twist away, circling now with another target in mind, circling now towards Yunobo. He stiffens, sucking in a breath. He twists his head to follow a strand that darts behind him, then swings back around as another approaches from the other side. The strands look intelligent, interested, but shying back.

Her grip is painfully tight on the slate, and she prays to the Goddess, prays to Yunobo, _let them in. Let them in._

Yunobo swallows. He jerks a nod. En mass, the strands attack, stabbing into him from a hundred directions, then darting back to the surface to wrap every inch of his body in glowing blue light. It's like warping, but Yunobo can still move. He twists about to watch the designs tracing over his chest, lifts his arms to watch the blue scrawls erupt over his hands. He chokes on a whine, and—just like that—the light flashes and fades.

Zelda can't move. But Link shifts, and that grabs Yunobo's attention enough to look up at them.

"Did...Did it work?" Link asks.

Yunobo blinks at him, then lifts his eyes to Zelda, his lips pressed tight together as if he might cry, his eyes begging for her verdict if it worked or not.

"Close your eyes," she says. As he does so, she hops down from the crate. "Reach deep inside you and see if you can feel a part of yourself that has grown stronger."

He frowns.

He searches.

Zelda trades a look with Link. She's technically the expert, but that doesn't mean she understands all this.

"Now ask Rudania to move," she says.

"Whaa—"

"Send your thoughts to her and just ask."

In a soft voice, Link adds, "Like you're praying."

Yunobo frowns harder.

He prays very, very hard.

A hundred feet beneath their feet, Vah Rudania's tail swings.

#

Yunobo has pulled Vah Rudania out of the volcano and leveled her off. He's opened the windows on her back and side so it's no longer pitch black inside. All the strung lanterns toppled and went out the moment the Divine Beast's back straightened. The Gorons safely abandoned their camp at the lip of the volcano. With their successful mission completed, they've all headed home.

As long as they patrol the rim, Yunobo can manage to keep the Divine Beast level, but the moment they adjust their grade at all, the floor slants and the debris of the ruined scaffolding scattered inside the beast begins to slide. They close the windows again until they can get Vah Rudania further down the mountain and unload everything.

Link invents a terrible game using the magnesis rune to stack all the former scaffolding against one wall like a cross between a house of cards and a block tower. He then sees how loud of a noise his constructions can make when the Divine Beast inevitably lists to the side. She half expects Yunobo to be mortified. But, after a terrifying moment, he laughs, and then together Link's building things and Yunobo is knocking them over.

They like their version much more than Zelda's, where she arranges the debris in neat rows and has Yunobo walk Vah Rudania around without letting anything slip out of alignment. Or, at least righting her before the mess can slip all the way to her other side. It's a good exercise, she thinks, and perhaps she can develop some more after Yunobo masters this.

It's dangerous to be inside Vah Rudania no matter which version of the game they're playing.

After trial after trial, Link suggests they spend the night back in town. He does it with a very obvious lift of his eyebrows. _Let's give Yunobo some time to figure things out on his own_ , those eyebrows say. _Alone time without you breathing down his neck_.

And...yes, of course. Vah Rudania is not hers. She has a partner. A partner who can get anxious if Zelda's watching him too closely. A partner who needs practice and maybe some chances to make mistakes while no one is watching.

It's just...walking away feels very strange.

"What do you say we take tomorrow morning off?" Link asks as he releases her waist after warping to the shrine above the city.

"What? Why?"

"Because you've been working on the Divine Beat for two straight weeks."

"No, I haven't. It's only been..." She stops walking to frown at him and calculate. Well, yes, it was a bit difficult to judge time from inside Vah Rudania, and her sleep cycle might be a bit off, and taking a potion every thirty hours is a very odd routine.

"It can't have been two weeks," she says. "We would have run out of elixir."

He stares at her. For a long time. Waiting for her to realize that he's been making it himself.

"Oh. Oh, Link, I'm sorry. I really have been single minded, haven't I? Oh no! I've fallen so far behind catching fireproof lizards! You're right, I should take tomorrow morning off and replenish our supply."

"For the love of the Goddess, don't catch any more lizards! We have so many lizards. We will never run out of lizards. We have fewer butterflies, but still way too many butterflies. That's not the issue."

"Then what is?"

"That you need a break."

"But we _just_ got Vah Rudania functional! This is a pivotal moment!"

"A pivotal moment for Yunobo. It's a pivotal moment for you to go with me to check out that map thing."

"What map thing?" she asks.

"You know. The challenges. First we go look at the map things, then we go do some challenges, and then we get some new shrines. Probably at the end I'll fight Fireblight Ganon again and have to...That challenge."

She gasps and covers her mouth with her hand. "I'M SO SORRY! I completely forgot!"

"I know you did."

"I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because I haven't had any free time either."

"But you got all the taluses, right?"

"And the Wizrobes. I did those last week."

She groans. "I'm sorry."

"You can make it up to me tomorrow."

Neither of them mention how he could very easily have done the whole challenge alone. It would have been easier than arranging to bring her along. It would make him less anxious if he didn't have to worry about keeping her safe.

As they descend to the city, they look down at a commotion. There's a whole group of Gerudo in the center of town. Now that the roads are clear, all sorts of people have been coming into town. There's an energy to the exchange that Zelda finds worrisome, and as they get closer, they see that the Gerudo are arguing with a small group of Gorons. Link's posture shifts. He doesn't reach for his sword, but his intention is clear.

"I've never been so insulted!" a Gerudo shouts. "The rest of the Gerudo will hear about this. We'll never return to this place."

"Excuse me," Zelda says, slipping her way between the shouting woman and her friends and the Gorons who shrink in on themselves the louder her voice rises. "Hello. Is there a problem here?"

Apparently the Gorons have been referring to the Gerudo as "the tall Hylians," and Zelda has to explain to the Gorons (her voice loud enough so the Gerudo can hear every word she says) that although they're the same species, Hylians and Gerudo come from different places and have distinctly different cultures. She doesn't want to get into the long history of mistrust and the power dynamics between their people, so she just explains that by calling them Hylians, the Gorons are implying that the Gerudo's beautiful homeland and their rich traditions are not as important as those of the Hylian's.

The front most Goron nods slowly. Even if he doesn't quite know how to fix it, at least he knows he did something wrong. He uncurls from his position practically hiding behind Zelda, and presses a fist into his palm, bowing to the leader of the Gerudo. "We meant no disrespect to you or your men. Our apologies, brother."

Every Gerudo grabs for a weapon.

Zelda throws up her hands. "Wait! Wait. Wait." She explains to the Gerudo this time that the Gorons have no concept of gender, which is beyond baffling to the Gerudo. It's also baffling to the Gorons, who say, "We don't have what now?" The Gerudo aren't quite sure they like that they're in a city with no women. They decide amongst themselves that it's really more like the Gorons are genderless and just using male-centric language for some unfathomable reason. It is therefore the Gerudo's duty to teach them female-centric language and correct their misguided ways.

The leader of the Gerudo spreads her arms and addresses the Gorons, "Sav'saaba, sisters! Thank you for welcoming us to your beautiful city! We look forward to learning everything about your wonderful people!"

The Gorons are still lost, but glad the Gerudo want to trade with them again and that they've stopped shouting.

Zelda rubs the bridge of her nose.

#

With the huge influx of visitors, the inn has hung up hammocks to provide extra beds. The hammocks are made of a coarse orange fabrics, each with a different triangular pattern around the edges. They all have clunky metal hooks to connect them to the walls.

Even with the additional bed space, there's only one hammock left.

"I guess we'll have go back to Vah Rudania after all," Zelda says. "I'm sure Yunobo would understand."

"We'll take it," Link tells the inn keeper.

"What? No. We can...camp in the shrine above town."

Link walks further into the inn, unstrapping his equipment to tuck it under their designated hammock. She does not follow him.

"They're made to hold Gorons," Link says over his shoulder. "One will definitely fit the both of us."

The inn keeper nods enthusiastically.

Link removes his boots and clambers into the hammock. For a second, she's convinced that it's going to spit him out onto the floor, but he manages to get settled. He's beaming like this is the best thing that's ever happened to him, and Zelda swears if he tries to get one for their house, he's sleeping in it alone and she's claiming his bed as her own.

He stretches out the sides, to open it up and hold it steady, and then gestures to the spot beside him with a jerk of his head. Around them, a dozen other visitors are getting ready for bed. Brushing out their hair. Climbing into their own hammocks. Murmuring quietly among themselves. None of them are giving her or her situation a second thought. She huffs and takes off her boots.

She manages to climb in, but the hammock—predictably—rolls them towards each other. She scoots down so her face is pressed to the soft part of his shoulder. One of her legs ends up between his. Link's body temperature is cooler than the air around them, so it would almost be comfortable if not for the fact that she likes this far too much and is therefore holding her body as tense as possible. When he lets go of the hammock sides and wraps his arms around her, the sides close in around them, giving the illusion of privacy.

He grins down at her from two inches away, like he's made some kind of point about being cozy.

She really wishes he wouldn't, because her mind is already spinning with terrible visions. His open joy just seems unfair.

"I bet I can...Watch this!" He shifts his weight, rocking his hips and twisting his shoulders and flexing his abdomen until their whole hammock is swinging back and forth, a couple feet to either side, far higher than is probably safe. She grabs at both the hammock and his shirt. He looks as if he's never had more fun.

"Stop that!"

"Why?" he asks. But he does stop. Their swinging slows without his enthusiasm pushing it on.

"This inn is full. People will think—" She cuts herself off.

He blinks at her. Suddenly, there's a glint in his eye. Suddenly, there's a smirk peeking around the corners of his lips. "Think what?" he says innocently.

She gives him a glare. If he thinks that will get her all flustered...well, he's correct, but he doesn't need to know that. She answers bluntly, "They will think we're having sex in here."

"No, they won't."

"Yes, they will. How could they possibly not?"

"Because they can all hear you talking about how we're not having sex."

She glares at him. He tries so hard not to laugh that he has to bite his lip. Zelda purposefully doesn't look at it. Holding in the laugh has his chest and abs contracting against her. She pretends she can't feel it. "Go to sleep, Link," she says, pointedly closing her eyes and pressing her face to his shirt so he can't look at her.

Their hammock comes to a rest. Link settles around her. Zelda releases a long, shaky breath.

"Hey, Zelda?"

"What?"

"Do you want to have sex with me in a cramped, makeshift hammock while eight Gerudo ladies listen in?"

At least three Gerudo ladies answer, "Yes!"

Zelda says, "I'm leaving," but he tugs her closer before she can topple out of the hammock, and presses a smile to the crown of her hair. His whole body shakes with silent laughter.

He dozes off soon after.

Zelda wakes in the morning after the longest sleep she's had since she left the castle.


	18. Chapter 18 Eldin

Once again, the spot on the map is an obelisk that gives them three more maps. Even though they can see the obelisk from the city, they have to circle a lake of lava, so it takes most of the morning to get there. Zelda spends the time brainstorming new exercises for Yunobo. It's actually refreshing to get away from the Divine Beast for a time. It's nice to look around and see greenery in the distance.

She hasn't done much hiking lately, so that's less nice. Her legs burn and her lungs burn.

She catches five more lizards, much to Link's annoyance. "In twenty years, you're going to have a hut out here," he says, "just made out of lizards. You'll have some creepy, weird hat and sunken eyes, and you'll never go outside. And I'll come visit you and your lizard children, and you'll give me some quest about finding lost lizards or getting food for the lizards or something."

"What nonsense," she says, tucking the lizard into her satchel.

He reaches a hand back to her, helping her up an incline. "Hyrule is full of eccentric people who've taken it a step too far. This is how it starts."

"At least you'll visit me in my lizard hut."

"Only if you offer good rewards for your lizard quests."

"Fireproof elixirs. So many fireproof elixirs."

The time alone helps Yunobo. His mastery over Vah Rudania has improved. Slightly. He still can't keep the Divine Beast level, but at least she's no longer sliding down the side of the volcano. Now she places each foot surely. She still leans to one side or the other, but it doesn't feel as if she's in danger of falling over.

Zelda won't admit that she worries the Divine Beast will roll onto her back and, like a turtle, be unable to rise. Zelda pictures the beast's feet waving in the air. She pictures the Gorons trying to make a lever long enough to flip her, but eventually giving up. She pictures having to tunnel to the main control unit to turn off the beast.

So Zelda is very glad to see these improvements, however minor. She showers Yunobo with praise, with reassurances that the great Lord Daruk himself had difficulty mastering the Divine Beast. Vah Rudania might very well be the most complicated beast to control!

Yunobo is relieved. He's ready to continue their training and get even better.

Link frowns and says nothing, which is almost worse than if he would just spit out whatever is bothering him. It's amazing that he can be at his most judgemental when he says the least.

They practice getting a feel for the roll and tilt of the floor from inside. Yunobo can see where they're going from the great lizard's back, but standing by her head doesn't give him enough of a sense of how much and how quickly the floor slants when Rudania's legs move up an incline. To practice, they're not walking except to shift the beast's legs back and forth, rocking her enough to tilt the floor. He opens the windows so they can see, and she has all the debris moved to the other side.

Zelda supposes that if they use Vah Rudania to transport anything, they will have to strap down their cargo, as the floor tilting at an angle is a given. However, with practice, she has faith that Yunobo can keep it to a minimum. Or at least know the extend of the slant.

It feels like they're making progress. Not much. But progress.

Yunobo takes a step back just as the floor is swaying, and he trips. He windmills his arms to catch himself. And suddenly the Divine Beast leans. It's as if one of her legs has given out.

The floor shifts beneath her feet, and—just like Yunobo—she throws out her arms for balance, and for a moment, she's got it. But the floor keeps tilting, and Link shouts, "Stop!" And then she's sliding. She slips to her butt, and then she's flat on her back, rolling onto her side and scrambling for purchase. But there isn't any. The walls, and now the floor, are unclimbable, and she won't stop until she comes up against a wall turned floor, which should happen in a couple seconds. At least all the scaffolding isn't going to fall on her.

She looks down and chokes, because instead of a wall and a bruising halt, she's headed for a window. Below her is only lava. She's headed straight into the mouth of the volcano.

Link is screaming. She tries to roll. If she can manage another few feet to the left—

She grabs for the window's edge as it brushes past her fingers. The floor is gone.

A snag at her wrist, and she jerks hard to a stop, pain jolting through her shoulder. She hangs. She looks up. And Link's hanging too, one hand grabbing the window edge, one hand locked around hers.

Her grip slips. Just a fraction. But enough. They have just a split second, just enough for horror to wash across Link's face. "Zel—"

And she's free.

The lava rushes towards her, the heat pressing at her face, and it's so hot and so bright that she squeezes her eyes closed, and the heat snatches away her tears. She's going to die. She's going to _die_. The rushing fall snatches away her scream.

The impact feels as if it comes from the side, and then she's numb all over, and she's not breathing. It feels like she's hit something much harder than lava, and the pressure on her chest is so heavy it's like a physical weight, and suddenly she's so so so cold, as if lava's too hot to understand.

She opens her eyes to the clear blue sky of the Spirit Realm.

She's flat on her back on some sort of stone ground, and there's a cold wind and birdsong. Did she die? Did she just _die_? Iced panic rips up from her stomach to her throat. Before it can tear loose in a scream, it's clogged by the weight pressing against her chest.

She looks down just as Link looks up, and his face is so ferocious that she doesn't know if the emotion that clenches her insides is terror or lust. She's shaking so hard that she's certain it's residual terror. His eyes are wild—fierce and dangerous like a beast poised to consume her. He's breathing hard and sweating and he tightens the arm around her waist, pulling her closer, pulling his weight more fully on top of her with an intention that makes her dizzy. He pulls the slate from her hand, tossing it aside, and threads his fingers hard and secure through hers, pinning her arm near her head, holding her tight to the stone.

Did they warp? Did he _catch her_?

It may be heightened emotion twisted into lust, but that's still lust.

Link drops his head to her sternum and pants, his breath hot and damp through her thin shirt, and Zelda has to drop her head back, stare at the sky, and _breathe_ before she presses her thigh even tighter to his hip. She's hot all over and shaking all over, and her free hand is fisted so tight in Link's hair that it must be painful.

She stares at the sky and says, "I feel into the lava."

He says nothing. His whole frame surges with every breath, his shoulders expanding and contracting, his chest heaving against her own with every gasp.

She... _really_ likes that.

Very much.

"Goddess," she breathes. She needs to calm down, but there's no possible way she can calm down after that.

"I'll kill him," he growls. And, yes, she disapproves of that, but at the moment a much larger part of her squirms at the roughness of his voice, rocks toward the protectiveness in his tone. And that part of her _moans_.

He misinterprets her embarrassing noise as criticism. "He's done. He put you at risk. He doesn't have control over Rudania. We'll find a different champion."

"It was an accident," she says between pants. "He's probably already beating himself up more than you ever could." And besides all that, Yunobo's presence is completely unwelcome in her thoughts at the moment. Link shouldn't eviscerate him, but also she's a bit angry with the Goron herself, and she doesn't appreciate feeling the need to defend him. "Can we not talk about it right now, please?"

He looks up at her. She can just see it out of her peripheral vision, because she keeps her eyes on the sky. His voice softens as he says, "Fine. Later." Then he lowers his head again and squeezes her tighter.

Her mind flies in a thousand different directions anticipating how he'll press his lips to her collar bone through her shirt, how he'll drag himself up, sliding against her just a few delicious inches to press his lips against her neck, how his fingers will tighten in hers.

"AHEM."

It's not a throat clearing. It's a person saying _ahem_. "Ex- _cuse_ me! What do you think you're doing?"

Link looks up, then groans and pulls away, sitting back on his haunches. Zelda doesn't care for that at all, and just stays flat on her back. She nearly died. And now Link's not even celebrating her alive state. She's allowed to not move for a minute.

Link lifts a hand in an annoyed wave toward the woman standing on the other side of a ring of wild flowers. "Yeah, we're fine, thanks," he calls.

The woman's scowl only deepens, her fists tight against her hips. "The flowers are weeping!"

Zelda blinks at her. Very slowly, she sits up.

"We didn't touch the flowers," Link calls, then mutters a few uncharitable things under his breath. He reaches past Zelda for the slate and tells her, "I didn't look where we were going. I just...figured anywhere..."

"It's fine."

"Umm." He rubs his eyebrow and frowns down at the slate. "We should take a minute before we head back to the bridge. Can't warp straight to Rudania, or we might fall right back in the damned...Or maybe we should head back to Goron City. Let Yunobo find us." He's developed a stressed line between his eyebrows. She can't drag her eyes from it. She wants to soothe it under her thumb. She wants to soothe it with the flat of her tongue. Sit up on her knees and take his face in her hands and lick him. He'd taste of rock salt. Then she'd twist and pin him to the ground.

There is something very wrong with her.

"But where to go now? Somewhere not on fire. Somewhere with no monsters. Another tower? Maybe...no, too cold..."

"You're babbling."

"I'm thinking out loud!" he yells. "Decisions are hard!" His eyes are wide with delayed panic.

She snorts. The snort catches in her chest and bounces around until a hysterical giggle bubbles up. The laugh is painful, and she clutches at her ribs as it gains momentum. She doubles over and laughs.

Link is frozen, his eyes wide. His gaze bounces from her to the slate and back. He has no clue what to do, and no clue what to make of her. He's reached the edge of his attractive decisiveness.

It's hilarious.

She crumples to the side, laughing. There's hair in her face! And it would be her luck to survive a hundred years locked in battle with Ganon only to die falling into lava because a Goron slipped! And of all the places Link could have warped, he picked somewhere where there's a woman shouting about flowers (which she's doing again)! And she's seriously considering jumping Link right here, right now! And he's trying to calm himself down by _thinking out loud!_

He's desperately searching the slate now, his eyes scanning in a blind panic, his fingers darting around as he searches, searches. She plucks the slate from his hands. Her laugh has turned silent, too strangled to make noise, as she finds a shrine and pushes herself up and into Link's lap, wrapping her arm around his neck. He grabs her waist and the slate on instinct, and she warps them to Akakla overlooking Tarrey Town. There she plants a kiss to the crease on Link's sweaty forehead. She lets her lips compress against his skin. She makes a wet, smacking sound upon releasing him, and she topples off him to cackle about it and the startled look on his face.

#

She does eventually stop laughing, but she does not stop shaking. She steps down from the shrine to lie in the grass. There's grass against her skin and a cool wind, and instead of the heat pressing in on her from every direction, it now comes only from the sun.

After a long time, Link comes down to sit beside her. She's not ready to look at him yet. For the most part, she has herself back under control, but she's not ready to talk about it.

"I know you're going to want to go back up there, so I'm not even going to bother suggesting you stay behind." Link pauses.

Zelda says nothing.

"So I have an idea," he continues. "What if we made a harness for you, and we could tie you to the main control pannel. I learned about it in Lurian Village. They tie themselves to the masts of their ships if they get stuck out on the ocean when a storm pops up. It won't get in your way at all."

"Will you be wearing a harness as well?" she asks.

"I—If it makes you agree to do it, yes."

If her eyes weren't closed, she would roll them.

"Or we could wait," he says. "Let Yunobo practice. You've done your part, and now it's up to him to practice. When he's got it, then you can come up without needing to be attached to anything."

"What?" She sits up to face him. "No! I'm the expert. I've done this before. This is the whole reason I'm here. If it's just him up there, he'll never get anything accomplished. Especially since I'm sure he's terrified now."

"He'd be less terrified if we aren't there."

"No. We both know he'll be doubting himself now. The best thing for his moral is if we get right back up there tomorrow. Otherwise, we're going to have a serious Yunobo problem."

Link frowns and looks away in embarrassment.

"And besides that," she says, "who's going to decide when he's 'got it?' You? You'll never think he's good enough."

"What? Of course, I will. I'm not that mean. He'll get it."

"He'll get it enough for you to trust him with my life?"

He opens his mouth, but then words fail him. "Well...He...Eventually!...Maybe."

She sighs. "Link."

He flops back onto the grass and groans.

"Why don't we just bring Vah Rudania down the mountain?" she says. "It'll be messy bringing her down, but we can manage it. We'll have to do it eventually. And then if I fall, I won't fall into a volcano. It'll just be fifty feet." Fifty-four feet, seven and a half inches. But who's counting?

"High enough that you'll still die when you hit the ground, but low enough where I won't have time to catch you."

"Then why don't I just hold onto the slate at all times in case I need to warp? It was a fluke anyway that you were holding it."

He makes a face like his cooking came out too bitter.

"I'll be very careful about my environment. Stand clear of windows. And Yunbo understands the stakes now, and he'll be extra careful as well. It will be fine."

"You're willing to risk falling again?"

"I..." She sighs and lies back against the grass. The sky above them is light blue and cloudless. "It wasn't like this last time. Even with Daruk's control issues, no one was ever injured. No one ever thought I'd be unsafe on a Divine Beast."

"Now you won't find a person who does think they're safe. They've been a menace for a century. Everyone's scared of them."

"And I don't want to be like that," she says. She rolls to turn to him. "Are you scared of them? You've seen them at their worst. You have few memories of them before they fell into the Calamity's possession. Are you scared of them too?"

He thinks a moment, staring up at the sky. "No. I'm not scared of them. They're dangerous, but they're useful. Like a sword. I'm just scared your enthusiasm is blinding you." He looks over at her. "If you don't know how to handle a sword, it's all fun and games until you cut yourself."

"Alright. Then let's be rational about this." She sits up and flips her hair back over her shoulder. "Approaching the situation with a clearly thought-out plan is a necessary safety measure, and it will alleviate Yunobo's guilt and get us back to a decent working relationship. So! Like learning to use a weapon, we must identify the dangers. In this case: falling. We can limit falls from happening in the first place by being aware of our surroundings and using your lifeline idea. But we should also have a set procedure about what to do in the event of a fall happening. Now, you're not worried about yourself falling. Why is that?"

"Because I can just—" His eyes lose focus. For a moment she thinks he's stumbled into another trial, or he's having a memory. But then he pushes himself up to face her and says, "I have an idea."

"Oh?"

"We're going to get you a paraglider."

#

When they warp back to the Bridge of Eldin, Yunobo is waiting for them. He's hoppin back and forth, shifting his weight between his feet and muttering, "Oh no, oh no, oh no."

He's doing this from atop Vah Rudania's head.

Zelda startles at the sight of him. The Divine Beast is looming over the shrine, it's head lowered for Yunobo to get a good look. "How did—"

"You guys!" He leaps off the Divine Beast and lands, wrapped in Daruk's protection before them. His landing blows a wave of dust in their direction, and Zelda cringes back, raising an arm to cover her eyes. Then she's knocked off her feet, swept into a bone crushing embrace. "I saw you warp, but I was still so worried! Are you okay? Are you hurt? I'm so so so so so sorry!"

"We're quite alright," she says, but it comes out strangled, because her face is smooshed against a boulder.

Yunobo sets them both back on their feet and gives them an appraising, anxious look.

"I'm sorry to have worried you," she says, resting her hand on his giant one, which now covers her shoulder. "We spent some time coming up with some safety procedures for when we return tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yes, of course."

If she's honest about it, it will be terrifying to step back onto Vah Rudania, and she's not certain she can do it without having a panic attack. That would be terrible for Yunobo. Perhaps her desire not to hurt him, her need to keep it together will get her through.

She turns to look up at the Divine Beast. "You got her down the mountain!"

"Yeah. I mean, I don't know how bad she was tipping, because I just kind of..." He rubs the back of his neck. "I just ran. Without thinking. I knew you'd come here, and I knew I had to get here as fast as I could, goro."

Link surprises her by saying, "You've been over thinking it."

"I guess so?"

"Well!" Zelda says. "This is tremendous progress! And now we'll be able to practice on ground with a shallower grade." She gets out the slate to find the best place to put her for the night.


	19. Chapter 19 Eldin

Zelda has Link's paraglider set up on a work bench in the back of the forge. She sketches it in meticulous detail. Measures every part. Folds it and refolds it and folds it and refolds it.

The Gorons throw themselves into helping her construct the frame. They've been a bit down after the completion of their scaffolding project, so even though it's a little thing, they're glad for something out of the ordinary. Zelda uses this to mention the other infrastructure projects she has planned, and they're starting to come around. They spend some time looking at the pictures she took of the East Reservoir in the Zora's Domain, and the Gorons in the forge talk about the logistics of getting there long enough to decide it sounds like a lot of work.

Link's glider is made of wood, but it doesn't light on fire because—as Link says—"a ghost made it." Zelda doesn't have that luxury, so they construct a light, flexible frame of carbon-aluminum alloy. Rohan, the blacksmith, shows her how to heat the rock, how to pour it into the mold, then how to hammer the molten metal into shape. He does most of the work, but the small pieces he tells her to try turn out well, and he seems pleased with her work. They have to try several times before they achieve the perfect alloy, but neither of them mind that much.

Link has to pull her out of the forge and off to Lake Darman for the next challenge. She spends the whole trip there explaining the work she's done with the glider. As they're searching the shore for signs of glowing blue markers, she explains the Goron's mentality of "if it doesn't work the first time, we'll just try again." They follow through on this with resounding consistency, but Zelda cannot wrap her mind around it enough and it surprises her every single time.

"It's a good way to go about things," Link says. "You try, and you mess up, and you learn for when you try again."

 _Or you can do it right the first time_ , she thinks. Out loud, she asks, "Is this how you approach fighting lynels?"

Without a hint of irony, he says, "Pretty much."

The ground begins to tremble. The lake bubbles and surges, a thick wave swelling onto the shore so Zelda has to scurry backwards. A hot wind picks up, whipping at her clothes.

From the lava rises the most massive talus Zelda has ever seen.

The heat intensifies, and for a moment, they can do nothing but stare at it. Slowly, carefully, as if it can only see her if she makes sudden motions, Zelda lifts the slate and snaps a picture. Still slow and careful, she sinks to a crouch behind a rock.

Link looks surprised, but not scared. He's still standing there, staring at it. Despite Zelda's _very_ careful maneuvering to avoid notice, Link uses a perfectly normal voice at a perfectly normal volume when he says, "That's a big monster."

"Link?"

He takes his eyes off the monster to look down at her.

"Please stay alive enough to learn from any mistakes you make."

He grins at her, takes a big breath, and runs towards the rock behind which she's hiding. He leaps up onto it and pushes off with one foot, launching himself into the air. It's a good thing she gave him his paraglider back.

He doesn't make any mistakes.

In the shrine, they have to shoot a cannon at a target. She watched the Gorons shoot a cannon, of course, but she had to keep most of her questions to herself since they were in the middle of shooting Yunobo and a large piece of equipment at the Divine Beast to install the stairs, and her questioning was delaying the installation. Link promised the take her to the North Mine to look at those cannons, an offer she promptly forgot once aboard Vah Rudania.

So now she climbs around, sketching, measuring, climbing inside to poke at the various parts. How does the cannon apparatus rotate? What keeps the explosion contained to the inside of the cannon? How far can it shoot? And that will probably change depending on the angle of incident. Can they change the angle of incident?

Link demonstrates how if the bomb is set off at just the right time as the cannon swings around, it will hit the target. It opens the door, but Zelda is unsatisfied. Surely there's a way to place it in the correct position and fire it while it's not moving. How ridiculous! How is this useful?!

Success here leads to an even more elaborate set up involving a tunnel that rotates in the air at Zelda's command of a device like a Armillary Sphere. "Absolute nonsense," she says, her eyebrows pinched together, her whole body leaning to the left to properly align the thing.

Link agrees with a hum and fires off the cannon again.

#

Despite how they've had to adjust the carbon-aluminum ratio a few times to get the heft of the glider just right, Zelda manages to complete the frame in just a few days. The beams of the frame flash when they catch the light. It folds away neatly. It pops open with ease. It holds its shape no matter how much she pushes on it or presses on it or drops it or throws it or kicks it.

Next is the fabric. Logically, they should go to Hateno for it, as there's little to be found in Goron City. But Zelda doesn't want to go back until their work in Eldin is at least at a decent holding point.

"Why not?" Link asks. "We can just glowing-string-travel. We'll be gone an hour, and then we'll be right back."

"But..." She bites her lip. In a small voice she asks, "What if the Sheikah spot us in town buying fabric?"

"What if they do?" he asks, honestly not following her. "We can just tell them what we're doing."

"But...I'm not sure they'd approve of me spending my time building a paraglider. Or even _using_ a paraglider. What does that have to do with politics?"

"It's about your safety aboard Vah Rudania. They'll appreciate that you're being safe."

" _Or_ ," she says, "it will clue them in that there's a safety concern. And what if they start to doubt you and if you're taking my safety seriously—which I know you are, and I know I don't make it easy for you and I know that even you think I shouldn't be up there even though the paraglider was your idea."

"So you're mostly worried that they'll agree with me and tell you to stop and you won't be able to twist their arms as easily as you twist mine."

"I—" She swallows and looks away. "What if they tell me to stop working on the Divine Beasts?"

He's silent for a moment, then comes to sit next to her in their hammock. His voice is gentle as he says, "They won't. And if they do, you'll just ignore them."

"But it will still hurt. I understand it's foolish. I just..."

"You can't help being afraid."

They sit in silence a moment. Is there some way she could make a cloth substitute? The Gorons do use cloth, they just don't sell any, so maybe she can find out where they got it. Perhaps one of the Gerudo traders is selling some.

Link says, "It sounds to me like we're in need of a stealth mission."

"Oh?"

He grins at her and boops her nose with a finger, and she rears back and swats him away, rubbing the tip of her nose to make it stop tingling.

He digs through his stuff to pull out his Sheikah armor. It takes a while to get all the fiddly leather armor plates and all the wrappings in place. He has some trouble finding the wrappings that go around his wrists. Zelda uses the delay to appreciate the way the fabric is tight around his forearms, something she usually can't see under the wrappings. Finally ready, he tugs the big wrap over his nose and sets out into the night.

Twenty minutes later, he drops the royal blue fabric from their house into her lap. "The shrine here is a bit of a hike," he says, then starts to unwind the wrappings around his face.

"I..."

He pauses to look up at her.

She winces. "I don't suppose you brought my needles?"

He surprises her by grinning. "Oh, this is a real quest now!" He covers his face again and dashes out of the inn.

"Bring my whole kit!" she calls.

#

The next challenge is in Darb Pond, where between assertions of their manliness and shouting about being beefed up, a couple of Gorons tell her that Lord Daruk himself used to train here by standing in the lava. Therefore, apparently, Link needs to stand in a glowing blue circle out in the middle of the lava pond.

Link immediately strips off all his equipment and grabs for his flamebreaker armor. While he's climbing into his tin-can-like pants, Zelda uses the slate to move a pair of metal boxes out into the pond in hopes he'll stand on them rather than try to swim out there or something equally ridiculous. "Thanks. That's good thinking," he says. With his chest plates surrounding him, he has trouble bending in to kiss her cheek, but he does it anyway before he puts on his helmet and runs, clunking and crashing, off their little outcropping. He glides to the boxes, and the next shrine appears.

He does not like this shrine. In fact, she can say with absolute assurance that he hates it.

She doesn't put together that all of the shrines in the Zora's Domain were water themed until she realizes that the shrines around the volcano are fire themed. In this one, it seems they have to use the magnesis rune to move around another metal cube to block jets of flame so that they can progress. Simple enough, but Link vibrates with anxiety.

He pulls off his helmet and lets it clatter to the floor, then he clanks to the floor and pries off his metal boots. There's a large gear mechanism that unlocks them from the leg coverings. "Okay. Put on my armor. The whole set."

She makes no move to put on his armor or help him remove his gear. "It won't fit me," she says.

Link unlatches some clasps at his waist and wriggles out of his pants. They remain the same shape even when he's no longer occupying them.

"I'm going to trip over my feet," she says. "And I won't be able to see through the helmet. This feels more dangerous than not wearing it."

"Just put it on."

"I really don't think it's necessary."

"Fine. Then it's not necessary. It's a favor. That you're doing for me." He pulls at the straps on his sides to loosen them.

She hesitates.

"There's no one here to see how goofy you look."

"There's you."

He waves this away and hefts the chest plates over his head. When he reemerges, he says, "I've already seen you at your worst."

Maybe he means that to be encouraging. But it is not. It is mortifying. Even though it makes no sense, all she can think to splutter is, "You _what_? _When?!"_

He gives her the most confused look he's ever given her.

"I—" She strokes back her hair. "But I look alright _now_ , right? No. I most certainly don't and haven't for weeks. I basically live inside a cave when I'm not sleeping inside an abandoned mechanical beast. But this can't be my worst. When have I been at my worst? I know I wasn't at my best during the Calamity when I let absolutely everyone down, and I was dirty and bruised and panicked and sobbing. And I know I treat you poorly during the months after you first claimed the Master Sword. Or do you mean my panic attacks? Or I suppose you have seen me sleep and seen me just after I wake with bad-haircut-bed-head and morning breath."

She desperately needs an answer to this question. It burns far worse than the fires before them.

He comes up to her with his chest plates tucked under one arm and puts a hand on the side of her face. It calms her. Get her to refocus.

"Your terrible-haircut-bed-head is funny. And your morning breath is not so bad."

She considers this a moment, then nods. "So I am at my worst when I'm having a personal failure."

He rolls his eyes and shifts his weight, clearly wanting to take her face in both hands. But he can't because he's holding his enormous armor that she's definitely not going to wear. "What will it take to get you to wear this? What can I promise you? Is there any way bribery is an option?"

Her first response is, _No, I'm not wearing that_. But then his thumb brushes over her cheek, and he's looking at her so intently, and she thinks that maybe if he kissed her, if he dropped the armor he's holding and takes her face in his hands and pulls her close, then maybe she'd wear it. But then that's coercion, and she can't do that to him (because she has no doubt that he's just that serious about this armor situation), and it wouldn't be real anyway, and she'd just end up more befuddled and sad.

And she's taking too long to come up with something, just staring at him and imagining things that are embarrassingly inappropriate. She needs to say something. Something. Anything. Right now. Can she ask him to talk to Impa for her? Should she ask for sword fighting lessons or something along those lines? Should she demand a week in Hateno once they're done in Goron City, so she can work on her many, unfinished projects? Should she ask for something she neither wants nor needs, just to get it over with? Amber? A nice dinner? Flowers? Maybe he could kiss her?

His posture deflates. She's taking too long, and this looks really bad, she looks like she so desperately doesn't want to wear his armor that she can't be bribed. She so desperately doesn't want to wear it that she won't even do it to relieve his anxiety. The intensity in his eyes has faded to defeat, the pressure of his hand lessening.

She still thinks the armor is a bad idea, but she can at least do him the service of showing him what a bad idea it is.

Before he can pull away, she huffs and grabs the chest plates from him. Or at least she tries. It's heavy and awkward.

He perks up immediately and helps her lift it over her head. It sits heavy on her shoulders, and the hole for her head is so big that it sits in an awkward place against her shoulder bone. It's stuffy inside, but it's also only as hot as her own body heat. "You owe me a bribe," she says as she adjusts the gloves. He's lucky she's been working in the forge with huge Goron gloves. "I just can't think of anything right this second."

"Sure," he says, holding the pants to make it as easy as possible to step into them. It's still not easy. "Rain check."

#

Two days later, Zelda has a royal blue paraglider and a harness she'll wear on Vah Rudania that isn't too unwieldly. She's thinking of embroidering something on the fabric of her paraglider, but she hasn't decided what, and she doesn't have the time to do it right now anyway.

They practice over the hot springs of Lake Ferona, standing on a little outcrop so they can glide out into the water. He has them switch paragliders at first. "It's not that I don't trust yours," he says. "It's just that I know mine works."

She rolls her eyes, but then he's standing right behind her, guiding her hands to lift his glider, his palms tracing over her arms. "Hold it up over your head. Just like that. And you've got to hold on tight. Keep a small flex in your arms. Don't just hang there or you won't be able to steer, and then you'll fall. You'll feel a strain in your arms and shoulders here. And if you're airborne long enough it'll start to cramp your fingers. So be aware of how much longer you can hold it."

The glider over their heads is like an umbrella, creating sense of privacy she hadn't felt in the open on the bank of the lake, even though they're the only ones around. The heat of him behind her rivals the heat rising off the water. She can feel the worn places where his hands have held this glider. She turns her face to him, and he's right there, just a breath away. His eyes are bluer than the water, and she wonders what it would be like to sink into them: so warm she'd turn light headed, her skin sweating and the sweat evaporating.

She snaps around and clears her throat. "Anything else?"

"It's easier to hold it so it doesn't catch the wind, but if it's not catching the wind, that means you're falling. Falling is the easiest thing to do. You'll feel it when the wind catches. It'll pull. Don't let go when it pulls."

"Alright."

"You ready?"

She swallows and nods. She's been excited for this. But now that she's here (on this very small hill) she starts to question what she was thinking.

"I'm ready."

He leans even closer and whispers against her ear, "You've got this." For a moment, his lips hover over the tender spot right below her ear. She squeezes her eyes closed, praying that he'll kiss her, that she won't embarrass herself when he does, and that she'll someday very very soon get her emotions under control.

Instead, he bumps his forehead affectionately against her temple. He ducks away, nudging her waist in encouragement as he releases her. She shoves down her idiotic disappointment, takes a deep breath, sets her shoulders, and runs.

The paraglider catches before she's ready to leap. It lifts her straight off her feet, and she has to remind herself not to hang limp. She has to actively pull herself up. And then she's over the water. She's gliding. She's airborne! She can see the whole stretch of the hot springs, reaching out in either direction. And as she twists to get a better view, the glider naturally turns, and then she's experimenting, pulling into a wide circle until she can see Link again back on the outcropping. He waves, then runs towards the edge, popping open her paraglider over his head and sailing into the air. It holds up beautifully, although there's a bit of fabric at the back on one side that flutters too much.

He catches up, gliding around her in lazy circles. A laugh bubbles up from her chest, and she swerves back and forth in a drunken zig zags until she runs out of altitude at the base of the outcropping and lands in ankle high water. The paraglider keeps going, tugging her forward until she nearly topples over. Link splashes down beside her, grabbing her elbow to steady her, and she snatches her paraglider from his hands to make adjustments.

"It pulls to the—"

"To the left. Yes, I saw." She gives the fabric a few sharp tugs where it's attached to the frame at one corner, scooting it a good half inch. Then she's clambering back up the outcropping to try it herself.

There's no flapping this time, and no distinct pull. The grips bite into her hands more than Link's did. Her glider is more responsive, meaning she has to be careful with her motions, but also she can maneuver with less force. She's also more easily swayed by a sharp wind. Only once she's run through her assessment, does she realize that she's flying—flying!—with a paraglider that she's built herself. Her industriousness has given her the sky.

She aims back towards Link, but skims the surface of the water well before reaching him. It's deeper here, and she hits the water and folds her glider before she goes under. The hot springs burn and bubble up her nose. The odd temperature, the odd density of the water makes it disorienting, and she resurfaces gasping.

Link is splashing towards her through waist deep water, but he slows his mad dash when he sees her appear. She treads water a moment, then makes her way closer until her foot finds a rock and then another, and then the water's only up to her chest. He takes the glider from her, and she uses her free hands to remove her kerchief, duck her head back under the water, and slick back her hair.

"The maneuverability is amazing!" she says. She takes back her glider and pop it open once more to inspect it. "I'd be curious to see if it still works while wet, but I suppose it won't take long to dry in this heat. I feel we could move to higher ground with just a few more test flights here."

She heads back towards the outcropping to try again. She gathers up the hem of her red shirt and wrings out the excess water. It immediately sticks back to her skin. Her collection of belts to hold the slate and her equipment are so waterlogged that they hang heavy and lopsided off one hip. She wipes her hands on her thighs as if she can wring water from her pants. "I see what you mean about arm strength. But surely I can find some exercises that would improve my obliques and trapezius. I bet the Sheikah will know. Or do you—"

She startles him when she turns. He looks as if he wasn't paying attention, as if he zoned out staring somewhere in the general area of her aforementioned obliques. His eyes jump up to her face when she spins on him.

She frowns at him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he says, shaking it off and trudging after her. "I was just...thinking."

"Oh? Do you know of some exercises to improve those muscle groups?"

"I was thinking that right now you're definitely not at your worst."

She grins at him and gathers her wet hair to wring it out and twist it over one shoulder. "You're too kind. But I would like to know how long I can glide before I become too tired to continue. That's not something I want to sneak up on me."

"Sensible," he says.

"Naturally." She scurries up the rock face to launch herself off again.


	20. Chapter 20 Eldin

Yunobo does best piloting Vah Rudania when he makes physical movements to guide her. To begin the beast marching forward, he holds up an arm and karate chops it down as if he's pointing her in the correct direction, as if he's giving her momentum. To stomp the beast's feet Yunobo slams a fist downward, as if he's punching an invisible table. To bow the beast's head, he presses his palms together as if praying, and slowly bows them forward. To keep the beast level as she walks on an incline, he holds both his arms out to the side, as if he's balancing on a tight rope, and then he bites his lip, stares at the horizon, and sweats. Zelda didn't know Gorons could sweat.

The movements are unnecessary, but they help Yunobo, and therefore they are a perfectly fine way to learn. Perhaps he'll ease away from them later when he gets more comfortable. Or perhaps he won't. The only problem is that a stray movement and a wild response to that movement is what sent Zelda falling into the lava, so it is something on which to keep an eye.

Well. That's not _entirely_ true. She doesn't mention it, but there's a second problem: several of Yunobo's movements are so close to those that Fireblight Ganon used to implement to control the Divine Beast, that it's and absolute miracle she hasn't had a full-blown panic attack. Although she does avert her eyes quite a lot, and leaves several of the exercises to Link, and one time she did claim that she has to relieve herself and then emptied her stomach as soon as she was out of sight and then hugged her knees and shivered for a few minutes.

Yunobo does better with the exercises Link invents than the ones Zelda invents, probably because hers are more difficult maneuvers requiring greater focus and patience and precision, and Link's are more about making Vah Rudania look like she's dancing. Zelda further suspects (but won't voice) that Yunobo might do better with Link's exercises because Link calls them "games." Yunobo does best when the games have a point system and he can challenge himself to beat his high score.

For the past week, she's guided Yunobo in the evenings, standing by the beast's feet and shouting up instructions, or standing with Yunobo on the ground while he practices his movements without Vah Rudania. They talk about his successes and struggles. They brainstorm new exercises. She provides boundless encouragement.

But Yunobo does best when Zelda is able to be with him on Vah Rudania.

And that's where they are now. Finally. Finally! Yunobo takes them up the volcano to the last challenge location at the very rim. Zelda bounces with excitement to finally be back on the Divine Beast. The ferocity of her smile is hurting her face. Her glider is tucked away against her back, and she's latched to a wire tether that's latched to the main control unit.

Just as she is excited, Link is excited to get to the final challenge. With Zelda hooked to the control unit, he doesn't even get over-protective until they reach the summit, at which point he stiffens, and his eyes start darting around, watching for how she's most likely to slide away. But Zelda puts herself more clearly in Yunobo's sight line and beams at him, praising his progress so he won't notice Link doubting his capabilities. They carefully circle the rim of the volcano, so slowly that it would probably be faster to walk.

The glowing target comes into view—the electric blue color at odds with the dark reds and browns of the mountain. It feels alien, like a splinter, like it most definitely does not belong. Link is ready to charge off the Divine Beast and follow the target on its merry chase, but she holds him back and makes him participate in Yunobo's next exercise of lowering them to the ground. Link checks his arm bracers. Vah Rudania lowers her head, forming an awkward, but manageable staircase down her neck and cheek, with a rather large—yet still manageable—drop at the end. (Zelda's thinking maybe a portable ladder. It's only eight feet, so the paragliders make it a non-issue, but Link argues that if they need to use the paragliders anyway, then why bother?) Zelda has to unhook herself from her tether from the main control unit, and she over-exaggerates being careful as she walks down the beast's neck.

Link is too wound up to notice. He bounces on the balls of his feet to wait for her to catch up. He checks his arm bracers. He pats down all his pockets to make sure he has everything.

When they reach the target, she once more wants to study it. She snaps a picture as Link sizes up the situation. "Make sure Yunobo keeps the warp point on Rudania level," he says. "I'll come back for you once I've activated the shrine, and we can warp back to it and do it together, but I don't know how long it'll take. If I'm not back in two hours, get a ride back to town with Yunobo." He pauses then, second guessing if that's a good plan after all.

Instead of commenting on that (actually very reasonable and well explained) plan, Zelda pops open her paraglider, arches one eyebrow at him, and takes a running start toward the target.

Behind her Link swears, and a moment later, he's caught up with her. She grins at him. He frowns at her. Then she leaps off the summit just before passing through the circle. Her paraglider catches over her head, and a second later, Link breaches the first target and a light guides them towards another, further down the mountain. There's a deep ticking in the air, their time counting down. The heat pushes at her sail. It's harder to lower her altitude, as if she weighs less here. Link pulls ahead of her, swinging through the target, and leading them to the next.

She keeps up fairly well for a while, her laugh caught in the hot wind. For the first few targets, she has to actively avoid them, staying out of Link's way and not activating them herself lest she ruin his trial. But then she needs a breather and pauses to catch her breath and rub at a stitch in her side as Link charges on ahead, swinging through another target. She follows him leisurely after that, keeping him in sight, but circumventing some of his theatrics darting through tunnels and approaching the lava. Her feet hit the ground beside him a few moments after the shrine has finished rising from the ground.

"You can do all the challenges in Tabantha yourself. How about that?"

She shrugs, immensely pleased with herself and strokes her hands over her glider as if she's inspecting it. "Perhaps I will."

"I bet they're all wind challenges with gaping pits."

"That sounds perfect for my newfound capabilities." Then, "How deep do you think the pits go?"

He doesn't like that at all.

Speaking of gaping pits, there's one in their current shrine. Once inside, they stop to watch its workings. There's a kind of conveyer—a track from which dangle cubes with climbable sides. Apparently, Link is to hop onto one of them as it passes, then ride it to some unseen destination. It's unseen, because the conveyer wraps around a corner and vanishes behind a wall, but between them and where the block disappear from sight, there is a wall of flame. Link could only pass it if he's holding one specific side of the cube.

"You need to sit this one out," Link says.

"Agreed. I have no interest in this at all."

"Because who knows what happens next? Definitely fire coming from the other side. Probably a guardian. Probably I'll have to jump from one moving block to another."

"That sounds exhausting."

"I just don't think you have the arm strength. We don't know how long you'll have to hold onto the box, or how fast you'll have to climb around."

"Link," she says. "Are you listening to me? Because I'm agreeing with you."

"And I think—You're what?" He looks down at her in confusion.

"I'll stay here and study this conveyer belt. Do you think there's a pulley system inside? How is it powered?" She eases towards the edge and tries to get a look inside the conveyer through the gap at the bottom. She pulls out her journal and takes a seat on the cool floor.

"Okay," Link says slowly. "So I'll go on ahead and when I'm done I'll just...Wait are you sure?"

She looks up from the beginnings of a rough sketch. "Yes. Carry on. Have fun."

Instead of hopping onto the next box, he shifts his weight. "Because if this is some trick to get me to let my guard down so you can follow along behind me—"

"Link!"

"Fine. Okay. Stay safe. Please don't leave this platform."

"Please don't fall into the pit."

He frowns at her once, then takes a running jump onto the next cube. He maneuvers around so he's safe from the fire, then the block twists so he's out of sight, then it vanishes behind the wall.

It's entirely possible, she thinks as she lies down on her back to look up at the track, to put this kind of conveyor system to work outside. What if there had been one of these leading from the base of Death Mountain to Vah Rudania? If the cubes were like carriages she could have climbed into and then just been carted up the mountain. That would have saved so much walking and so much time. What if they could have put their equipment for the scaffolding inside one of the carriages instead of hauling them all in a cart? Perhaps something like this could go from Goron City to the base of the mountain. That would make it far easier for the Gorons to aid with reconstruction, as the qualm they kept returning to was the very valid concern that it was too far to haul everything they would need.

Could there be a use for this in Herba? Link said, no one really lived in Herba anymore, apparently. But maybe they could. Was there a use for this in the Gerudo Highlands? No. She was going about this the wrong way, looking for a problem to solve with a new invention instead of trying to find a solution to a problem that exists.

She counts the seconds that pass between cubes. She estimates the speed of the track. When Link defends the elevator from outside, he sits next to her with a sigh and watches her sketch as detailed a diagram as she can get.

#

There's only the final challenge left: to go to Vah Rudania and for Link to most likely battle Fireblight Ganon in his mind. While he was excited to see what the previous challenges had in store for him, his approach to this one feels more like resignation. Not only does he delay leaving the last shrine, but he is tight lipped and tense jawed when she finally packs up.

In her time holding back the Calamity, she was distanced from the world, following it only as blurred moments when the Blood Moon was highest or that ring like a bell that snatched her attention when Link rose from the Shrine of Resurrection. She was most attuned to the castle, to those fools sneaking in for treasure and dying in the courtyard. Calamity Ganon was most attuned to the abominations that had possessed the Divine Beasts. Ganon wanted her to see these. He used his connection to show her, to torment her.

It saddened her a bit, towards the end, when Link spent only a day or two in each Divine Beast, only a day or two in the places where she could see him.

The Calamity wanted her to watch as the phantoms kill Link, as her hope for the future was extinguished, and they watched those battles intently, their own battle easing so he could taunt her with every blow Link took, so he could mock her every time Link dove out of the way. At the moment it became clear that Link would win, the Calamity would howl and renew his struggle against her with a vengeance, and her attention would be pulled away, and then the Divine beast would fall from Gabon's control, and the beast would be as blurred to her as the rest of the outside world.

She's more familiar with Fireblight Ganon than she is with the state of Gerudo Town or the new leadership hierarchy of the Rito. But she's mostly familiar with him as he stomped Vah Rudania around Death Mountain, alone to rage, and constantly looking for a way to be cruel and vindictive. So divorced from any of the fallout outside Vah Rudania, it was a bit like watching an endless temper tantrum. She watched Link's battle, but it's hard to judge how frightening it would be to face the phantom.

She reaches for Link's hand as they ascend up the elevator, and she asks, "Is Firblight Ganon that distressing?" It's not a dig against his courage, but a genuine, hesitant curiosity. Link has never before dreaded facing a monster.

He shakes his head and waves off her concern. "No. He's not all that bad. I don't think I'll have any problem fighting him." He thinks for a moment, lines of blue light rolling down his body as they rise. "But I bet the monk isn't going to give me a maneuverable weapon. And I'll get worse armor. And I really hope I get arrows." He frowns.

"Well," she says. They're approaching the top of the tube now. "You'll probably have some time to prepare yourself emotionally. It's not like you have to face the final challenge right this second."

The ceiling opens above them and they rise out into the sunlight to the entrance of the shrine. And there, standing over them, is Vah Rudania.

Yunobo waves from the Divine Beast's back, then cups his hands around his mouth. "I FOLLOWED YOU DOWN THE MOUNTAIN!"

Link sucks in a breath, and when Zelda whips around to face him, he's already gone, his eyes glassy and unblinking, his face slack. Zelda blows out a measured breath, then adjusts herself to face him. She takes his elbows in her hands to catch him when he comes back to himself.

She counts in her head. One one thousand. Two one thousand. Three one thousand...Ten one thousand...Twenty one thousand...

"ARE YOU GUYS OKAY DOWN THERE?"

Thirty one thousand...Forty one thousand...Sixty one thousand...

"LITTLE BROTHER?"

Eighty one thousand...One hundred one thousand...

"SHOULD I COME DOWN OR SHOULD I LEAVE AND COME BACK LATER?"

One twenty one thousand...

Two hundred one thousand...

Two sixty one thousand...

"BECAUSE IT LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE HAVING A MOMENT, AND I DON'T WANT TO INTERRUPT, GORO."

Three hundred one thousand...

Link stumbles and Zelda catches him. He blinks again and again to clear his vision. "Shh. I've got you. You're back."

"I'm..." He's shaking. He sniffs. "Yeah, okay." When he swallows, it looks like it hurts. "I...I got him."

She smiles up at him, trying to be supportive, but he drops his eyes and looks away before pulling out of her hands entirely. She tries not to feel hurt.

He looks up at the Divine Beast, then cups his hands around his mouth and shouts, "YOU MADE IT DOWN THE MOUNTAIN."

"I DID! Wooohoo!" He pumps a fist into the air, and it's genuinely surprising that Vah Rudania doesn't move.

There's a shout from the west, and they lean to get a better look down the path. Yunobo turns and lifts a hand to shield his eyes from the sun. They watch as one of the Shiekah jogs up the path. When he gets closer, she recognizes him as Dorian from Hateno. He's winded, and he uses the moment he takes to bow to her to catch his breath. "Your Highness."

"Master Dorian. Is everything alright?"

He shakes his head and straightens from his bow. "The Yiga have made a demand."

Before she can ask what sort of demand, Link has slipped in front of her, his hand on the hilt of his sword. She gapes at him and parts her lips to ask what he thinks he's doing, but neither of them are looking at her anymore.

Dorian holds Link's stare for only a moment before his posture sags. "I need your help."

Link takes a very deep breath.


	21. Chapter 21 Eldin and the Korok Forest

The story is told in half-sentences and meaningful looks. But as far as Zelda can make out, three days ago, a member of the Yiga clan approached Dorian while he was alone on patrol. This in itself is worrisome, because it means the Yiga knew all about the Sheikah presence in Hateno and they have been waiting and watching and growing impatient for Zelda and Link's return. The Yiga made Dorian an offer: in exchange for him turning over the princess to them, they would release his two small children

Zelda covers her mouth. She isn't sure how it's possible to feel cold at the base of Death Mountain.

Yunobo, who jumped down to join them, probably follows this story even less than Zelda does, but he puts his over-large hands on her shoulders to comfort her obvious distress. The protective size of him is comforting. In a nervous flash, a red barrier shimmers around them, then flickers out. That's comforting as well.

Link shows no signs of being horrified, no signs of being shocked. She realizes that that's because he's not. He rolls his head back in exhaustion or frustration and says, "This can't keep happening."

"It's different this time," Dorian says. "This time they did more than threaten my family. And this time I came to you for help _before_ I did something I'd regret."

Link is silent a moment, then nods. "We'll meet you in Goron City. We have to pack before we leave."

Dorian gets out the first guttural sound of a protest. (Zelda would protest too if she didn't feel it in her bones that she needs to back Link up on this. Present a united front. She can argue with him about it later.) But Yunobo voices his dismay first. "You're leaving, Goro?"

She turns and attempts a smile. "It appears we must." She pats his wrist. "We won't be gone for long. And you've come so far already. It seems you hardly need us looking over your shoulder all the time."

He leans in and attempts to whisper. "I don't like this." By _this_ he clearly means Dorian. Then he jerks his head towards Vah Rudania. "Do you want us to come with you?"

It's...not the worst idea. The Yiga would surely think twice about further acts of violence if confronted with a Divine Beast aiming a laser into their stronghold.

But the Divine Beasts should be more than weapons.

And she's not sure how quickly or safely they could get Vah Rudania to the desert.

She smiles at him. "You have the heart of true Champion, Yunobo. And the heart of a true friend. Thank you, but we'll handle this, and you'll perfect your bond with Vah Rudania."

His dark eyes look wet as he says, "Stay safe, Little Brother."

"May the Goddess smile upon you, Brother."

Yunobo wipes his nose on a forearm as they part, and Link slips an arm around her waist before reaching over to give Yunobo a fist pound. His hand is comically small next to Yunobo's. He glares at Dorian, ensuring he isn't going to leap at them, then warps them away.

He grabs her hand and pulls her into town the moment she once again has feet. "Come on, we need to get you packed and out of here before he gets here."

"What? We're leaving?"

"You're leaving."

"Why?"

"Because, first of all, it'll be a very tempting offer to hand you over. You going with us out to the desert to rescue the girls is basically you walking into the Yiga's hands." They're at the inn, and he's digging under their hammock, grabbing their stuff. She helps him by strapping on her bow and quiver. He starts separating their clothes, tossing her few belongings into a bag without folding them. "Secondly, there's no way in hell you're coming with us to the Yiga stronghold. It's too dangerous. For all we know it's a trap for both of us."

"So suspicious," she mutters, although she's only putting up a fight for the comforting familiarity of it. She doesn't want to waltz into the Yiga stronghold either. That sounds terrifying. She doesn't even want Link to go. She shoves down the clothes in the bag, so he can cram her sewing kit and some of her new Goron-made tools on top.

He flicks the clasp on her bag to close it and looks at her with burning eyes. "Also, it's entirely possible that the Yiga foot soldier who threatened Dorian is full of it. We only have his word that the Yiga have the kids at all. But Dorian ran straight here and led that foot soldier to us, and we're going to be attacked any second."

Her eyes widen. Her hands are shaking. Link passes her bag into her hands and wraps his arm back around her waist, pulling out the slate to warp. He's in too much of a hurry to step outside to warp like he usually does. It feels like her shoulders are shaking, her lungs are shaking. The way he holds her close is comforting, but she knows he's going to let go soon. He's going to let go and throw himself into a wild rescue attempt against the Yiga with their glinting scythes and their faceless masks, the sign of the Sheikah inverted in blasphemy. She can hear the way they laugh as they attack. Link's going to face them to keep her safe, and she doesn't want him to. She wants him safe and sound and with her.

The burning magic of the Goddess, the need to throw everything into protection rises up her chest like bile. She swallows it down and asks, "Where are we going?"

"The safest place I know."

#

Paya has a habit of channeling the emotions of the people around her. When Impa was anxious, Paya was anxious. However, her grandmother hid her anxieties with grace and Paya did not, so everyone assumed Paya was an over-sensitive mess. Maybe she was. No one else had sympathy anxiety.

But everyone was anxious, and Paya was about to vibrate out of her own skin.

The princess and Master Link had been gone for far too long. We're they delayed? Had they run into trouble? What was an acceptable amount of time to go without word, an acceptable amount of time before they sent a search party?

Then Dorian went missing. To take matters into his own hands and check on the princess? Did he abandon the Sheikah? Was he murdered by the Yiga? Had he fallen somewhere and was lying helpless, praying to be found?

And Purah's patience was running perilously thin. She shrieked at Paya for tidying her papers. She shouted at Impa until Paya had to run outside just to be able to breathe.

And then the messenger arrived from Kakariko. Another Yiga attack. This time successful and horrible in that they'd kidnapped Cottla and Koko. So clearly they'd taken Dorian as well. But why?

And what should they do now? They should regroup to Kakariko. They should mount an attack against the Yiga stronghold. They needed Master Link. They should wait for him. They should send a messenger.

Paya itched for definitive action, for a task. That's how you kept the anxiety at bay. If you can't run to Eldin and find the princess, clean a floor. Feed your grandmother. Practice your sword work.

Of course, it was then that Master Link slammed into the tech lab.

He looked ragged and over-heated, as if he'd just stepped from a hot house, but his eyes were so fierce and piercing that Paya dropped the stack of books she was sorting against Purah's wishes.

"Link!" Impa said. "You took your time in Eldin."

He ignored her. When his eyes locked on Paya, it was as if everyone else in the universe ceased to exist. He only had eyes for her. Paya stopped breathing.

He crossed to her in three strides and said, his voice low and dangerous, "I need your help."

"What's happened?" Impa cried. "Where's the princess?"

Link didn't even blink. He just stared into Paya's face, awaiting an answer.

"I...I..." She swallowed and nodded, as if there were any doubt whatsoever. "Yes."

He whipped out the Sheikah slate. "Take hold of this." She did. And then he pulled her into his arms, so they were pressed shoulder to thigh, so she could see the sharp clench of his jaw.

She gasped, and that gasp was snatched away as they teleported away. She'd seen him do it, of course, but she never could have imagined the way her skin turned to wind and fizzled away, never could have imagined the terrible lightness of not existing.

She clung to him when they reformed, under green tinted shade in a bright forest. When he stepped back, the princess was waiting for them, her hands clenched together in prayer, her face stricken.

She also looked as if she'd stepped out of a hot house. And possibly rolled in some dirt while she was at it. Instead of her tiara of diamonds and laurels, She wore a kerchief to hold back her frizzing hair. She had on a dirty shirt that clung tight to her frame and shone a brilliant red where it wasn't smudged. Paya dropped into a terrified bow. "Your Highness."

"Tell me about the recent Yiga attacks," Master Link said. His voice was an order. Direct without an undertone of resigned irritation like her grandmother used when she told Paya to go clean something. His voice reminded her of weapons training with Cado. Her back straightened into attention, her training locked into place, and her stutter caught in the back of her teeth. "A messenger from Kakariko arrived two days ago. The Yiga attacked the night before. They broke into Lasli's house and kidnapped Koko and Cottla, who were staying with her. It was four against one, and she was knocked out, but they left her there, and she's recuperating. At the same time as the attack, Dorian vanished from Hateno without a trace. We searched for him, but when the messenger arrived, we assumed he'd been kidnapped as well."

"What are the Sheikah's plans now?"

Embarrassment overtook her. "We have been...in-in-indecisive."

Master Link nodded in such a way that she could feel the eye roll he tried to hide. But his irritation wasn't with her. It was mutual irritation that they shared just between them. He understood her frustrations. "I'm going to rescue them. I need someone to stay with the princess while I'm away."

The princess muttered something about not needing a baby-sitter, and Master Link—in that same decisive voice—reminded the princess that Paya wasn't a babysitter. His tone softened as he looked at her, "You don't like being alone."

He went up to her, and they gripped each other by the elbows. He pressed his forehead to hers, and she took a deep breath. "It's going to be fine," he said.

"I know. Of course, I know." She let go of his arms enough to shake out her hands, and for a moment so much magic sloughed off them that it sparkled in the air, like she was flicking water from her fingers. "It's just...this place..."

"It's the safest place in Hyrule. The Deku Tree will keep you safe, no one can get in, and I trust Paya."

Paya's heart swelled so much she worried the emotions would leak out through her eyes.

"I'll be back before you know it. Don't combust while I'm gone."

"I make no promises. I might just to spite you."

He pressed a kiss to her forehead, then pulled away, turning back to Paya.

He came close enough to grasp her arm and lower his voice. "You're safe as long as you stay in the glen. The fog in the forest makes it so no one can get in. There's shelter and food inside the Deku Tree. But if I'm not back in three days...you'll need different plans. The koroks will guide you out of the forest. If I don't come back, I don't know where in Hyrule will be safe. The princess will have ideas. "

Paya nodded, even though this was too much. Wherever he was going, he shouldn't go. She nodded even though she had no idea what a korok was, and still doesn't really understand to this day.

Link leaned in and pecked a kiss to her cheek, which flamed so hot she almost missed it when he said, "Keep her safe. Even if you have to stand up to her."

Then he warped away.

The princess shook once more, like a spindly tree in a fierce wind. Then she doubled over and vomited into the grass.

Paya had no clue what to do, and it took a moment to dart forward and rub her back. Because of her kerchief, she didn't need her hair held back. The retching noise made her nauseated, and she forced herself to look away with a grimace, forced herself to make calm, shushing noises. The princess rolled away an collapsed onto her back with a groan, shivering in a cold sweat.

"I'm sorry," she said. "It's as if...as if the magic inside me wants to burst out. It wants to blast across Hyrule like a comet and slam into the Yiga's hideout."

Paya nodded as if she understood. Then she hurried off. She assumed the "Deku Tree" was the massive tree in the center of the glade, and sure enough there was an entrance to a hollow, where she found a ceramic cup, which she filled with water. The princess was still lying of the forest floor, her eyes closed. Paya helped her sit and drink, then guided her to stand and then into the hollow of the massive tree, where there was a thin bed that she helped the princess onto.

"This is an interesting knit," the princess muttered. Her fingers traced the weave of the blanket, which seemed to be made of leaves and moss. "Or is it knit? It's not crochet and doesn't seem to be from any kind of loom with which I'm familiar. I wonder what method was used here."

"Pl-Please rest, Your Highness."

Paya hurried away, throwing herself into scouting the glade.

#

Zelda pictures Link warping to the shrine above Goron City, only to find himself surrounded by a dozen Yiga. She pictures him narrowing his eyes and setting his jaw, setting his stance as the Yiga sway closer like snakes coiled to strike. She pictures them falling upon him before he can even draw his sword. She pictures the Yiga lying in wait at the base of the mountain, waiting to fall upon Link and Dorian where they can attack without use of fireproof elixirs.

#

There were four entrances to the glade—far too many. The setting sun vanished as she stepped from the glade. The air turned cool, murky. Shadows danced through the mist, just out of sight. She stepped too far away and the fog surrounded her, choking her. She couldn't see. She took another step, and the mist cleared, and somehow she'd completely turned around and was now facing back into the sunlit glade. Paya did no more exploring after that.

The princess wasn't sleeping. She seemed to be diagramming the odd blanket in a journal. Paya suggested a bath. There was a little spring-fed pond behind the shrine. And the princess looked as if she could use it.

"Yes, that's a good idea," the princess said, marking her place in her journal. "It's difficult to get a bath in Eldin. They only have hot springs, and you can scrub off the grime and the soot and the grease, but as soon as you step out, the sweat is right back. And, I'll admit I have lost track of time lately."

Paya didn't know what to do but nod.

"My foot is asleep," the princess announced. She extracted her legs with far too much care from under the blanket. It concerned Paya. Was there something wrong? Had she hurt herself? "They all just climbed up here and fell asleep in a pile on my feet. It feels wrong to disturb them when they're so sweet. Their little snores are comforting."

This concerned Paya even further.

Paya found the princess a blanket she could use as a towel and a set of clean clothes—the sky blue set that her grandmother prepared for her—and it didn't escape Paya's notice that the princess gave them a disappointed look. As the princess de-robed at the pool, Paya turned her back and leapt up the great tree, from branch to branch to knot, until she was high enough to leap to the top of the shrine, where she sat with her back to the princess and kept an eye on the glade. She listens intently as the princess splashes, unsure what she should listen for, but praying she knows it when she hears it.

#

Zelda pictures Link sneaking towards the Yiga stronghold. She pictures him going ahead of Dorian, so he can take the brunt of whatever befalls them. She pictures Dorian silently picking up a rock. Holding it over his head. Bringing it down. She pictures Dorian taking the Master Sword. How it will bite into his hand, and he'll toss it away with a hiss. Then perhaps he'll kick it over a cliff. She pictures him taking the slate from Link's hip. Activating it. Searching through her notes, through her pictures, through her maps. Trying to find where she is hiding.

#

The princess washed her hair three times. She scraped at her skin so when she reappeared, she had a pink, over-scrubbed look to her face.

There was a triangular platform in the glade, surrounded by a scattering of blue flowers. It was within sight of the shrine, so they would know the moment Master Link returned. The princess hesitated before stepping onto the platform and sitting cross-legged, opening her journal to sketch the flowers. "These are called the Silent Princess," she explained. Then explained a great deal more. Paya listened, because not-listening was not an option. She didn't follow all of it, and realized at some point that the princess was rambling in the most elegant way imaginable. Eventually, the monologue faded, but she continued to sketch.

Paya hurried off to start dinner and wash the princess' clothes.

The princess didn't eat much of the mushroom soup Paya prepared. At first, she thought this was because the soup was awful. She didn't have much to work with. And she wasn't an expert chef like they must have had at the castle. But she was alright!

"It's funny," the princess said. "I think Link has been adding more and more curry to our meals. Now food seems odd without it. Also it's not boiling. Isn't it strange how we can grow used to the most odd things?"

#

She pictures Link in manacles, in chains. She pictures him glaring from inside a cell. She pictures the Yiga throwing him in a pit. She pictures him bound up in rope and hung upside-down from the ceiling, his face growing more and more red and more and more puffy as he rotates slowly.

#

The princess didn't sleep that night. She sat on the narrow bed and sketched dumpy creatures with leaf-like masks. She said their shaking sounded like the rain and that she hadn't heard the rain in weeks.

She spent the next day on the platform, sketching design after design that she considered embroidering into her paraglider. Flowers and oak leaves and mountains and dragons and birds. She couldn't settle on one design. None of them were good enough. She asked Paya's opinion, but it wasn't Paya's place to tell her the birds seem a bit on-the-nose. The princess was unhappy with Paya's non-committal answers, and instead asked the stones beside her as if they might have an opinion.

"I most certainly will not embroider a picture of you, you scamp! How presumptive!"

Paya's forehead wrinkled in deeper dismay. Had the princess' time fighting the Calamity broken her mind? Is this why Master Link brought her to the solitude of Hateno rather than bringing her directly to Kakariko?

She swallowed. Whatever the princess had been through, it was a sacrifice for her people. For that, Paya vowed to protect her, even if that was protecting her against others finding her strange.

#

Zelda pictures Link in Kakariko at a funeral for two little girls. Two little girls he wasn't fast enough to save, because he had to take Zelda somewhere safe and provide her with a Shiekah guard. Two little girls who died because the Yiga wanted Zelda. She's been to the graveyard in Kakriko, so she can picture this much more clearly than she can the Yiga hideout. It's a vivid image.

She can see it raining.

#

The princess didn't even attempt to sleep, but instead sat by the glowing pea pods that lit the various entrances to the glade. She inspected them, measuring and taking notes, poking them and massaging them and asking questions to the air. She thought they might be a better light source for the black interiors of the Divine Beasts. Do they grow elsewhere? Can she pluck one? How fast do they grow back? Can they only grow in the Korok Forest?

Paya had no answers.

The princess' speech slowed, her movements growing clumsy. Dark smudges appeared below her eyes. Paya guided her back to bed, but she lay awake and stared at the ceiling.

The next day, she decided to embroider a pattern of stars and gears and flowers. It was lovely. All her designs were lovely. And her embroidery skills were exquisite. Or at least would have been had she slept at all.

They both jumped at every sound, expecting Link at any moment. The princess would glare at fallen tree branches and snapped sticks. "Could you please stop that?" she more than once asked the air.

The princess spent that night pacing. Round and round the great tree. She muttered to herself, and every time she passed where Paya had sat herself, she caught a portion of the princess' thoughts. She was going through worst case scenarios with Link's rescue attempt and explaining to herself that none of them were really that dire. "He would simply climb out of the pit. He would love that..." "Fooling the Yiga into letting him loose in exchange for bananas..." "He would call on a dragon, who would bring lightning that would electrocute him, but also break his bonds..." "And he could utilize Daruk's Protection..."

Paya let her pace. She had no idea what else to do. Her anxiety rose with every quickened circuit the princess made around the tree.

The princess pretended to work on her paraglider the next day. The final day. They spent most of their time staring at the shrine. The princess kept zoning out, she was so tired. Paya should have started the conversation about what they would do, should Link not appear. But her heart squeezed so painfully each time she thought of it, that she couldn't get words out. They trapped themselves in her throat.

The princess frowned at the shrine, and finally set down her work in a huff, clasped her hands together, and twisted to face Paya. Instead of anything Paya expected her to say, she asked, "Do you think it's odd the way Link shows physical affection?"

"Wha-What?"

"Link. He kisses people. And leans on people. And hugs a great deal. More than most people. More than is usual. I find it comforting and endearing, but I wonder if other people feel the same way."

"I..." Paya's face heated past endurance.

The princess frowned and straightened. "Did he make you uncomfortable?"

Paya averted her eyes.

"Well. That is simply unacceptable. I'm sorry for his behavior, and I will make sure he apologizes as well. I'll speak to him and it will never happen again."

Paya nodded. "That's-that's for the best. I get-I-I..."

The princess waited. Patient. Interested. Concerned. People did not often wait for Paya to express an entire thought.

Paya took a deep breath and patted her chest over her heart. "I-I know he doesn't mean...he doesn't...he's not trying to start...an-anything."

The princess nodded.

"But it..." Paya blushed harder. It was almost like they were having a normal girl conversation rather than waiting to find out if their friends were dead and if they had a safe place to travel. That spurred her to tell even more of the embarrassing truth. "I don't dislike it. And that's-that's not the-the best."

The princess nodded again. "I feel the same," she admitted. "I will speak to him." Then again, like a promise, like a prayer, "I _will_ speak to him."

The sun started to set behind the leaves, twilight inching in on the glade. As it grew darker and darker, the princess reached out and set her hand over Paya's. Paya twisted to thread their fingers together.

"What will we do?"

"Keep going."

"Go where?"

Paya thought a moment. "R-Rito Village?"

The princess' head tilted. "That's a idea."

The circle before the shrine lit, and they both startled, then jumped to their feet.

Master Link took shape before them, a child in each arm. They all had a hand of the slate, and the girls blinked around at the forest, then scrambled to the ground and flew into Paya's arms.

The princess had her mouth covered again.

Master Link collapsed to sitting and sighed, asking, "What'd I miss?"

The princess threw herself at him, nearly knocking him over, burying her face against the side of his head just as Paya pressed her nose to the tops of the girls' hair, breathing in dust and relief.


	22. Chapter 22 Korok Forest

Paya is incensed. When the full story comes out that Dorian was blackmailed by the Yiga and that he abandoned his post to run off and find Link instead of being upfront with Impa, she's too angry to form words. Her anger turns into a stream of consonants and rapid pacing. She can't fathom Dorian's behavior. Zelda's heart goes out to the man, but Paya is adamant that _real_ Sheikah would sacrifice _anything_.

This world view makes Zelda horribly uncomfortable.

They're talking only after the girls have collapsed in relieved, boneless heaps, and are tucked away in the bed. Zelda, Link, and Paya stand outside in the night, trying to keep their voices low as Link and Paya discuss if they have the authority to kick Dorian out of the Sheikah for failing to do the one job every Sheikah has: protecting the princess. Link doesn't, but Paya does. And will. As soon as she gets her hands on him. Zelda attempts to soothe her with some questionable tea that one of the koroks brings to them, but Paya's too wound up to drink it. Zelda sniffs it and thinks that might be for the best.

"Why don't we re-frame it," she says. "Dorian's parting with the Sheikah will be less of a demand of exile and more of a voluntary measure to protect his family for good. If Dorian and the girls go into hiding, the Yiga will no longer threaten his children, and he has shown that their safety is their highest priority. With Dorian in hiding, the Yiga can no longer use him against us."

Link thinks on that and nods. He likes Dorian, and he gets why he would protect his family first. Link's mostly irritated that something like this has happened more than once, as if he's disappointed Dorian hasn't learned from past events.

It doesn't escape Zelda's notice that, in front of Paya, there's no mention of the previous incident or incidents. Link is keeping those to himself, probably for Dorian's benefit.

The plan now is for Link to help Dorian set up a new identity and a new home in Tarrey Town. Zelda makes a list of everything they will need, then tears the page from her journal. Money. New clothes. New names. Hair dye. They'll need to retrieve a scant few sentimental items from their home in Kakariko. They'll need to decide who knows what.

Link also needs to go pick up Dorian, whom he left waiting somewhere in the desert while Link warped the children to safety. Link shows no signs that he's in a rush to retrieve him. If you ask Zelda, both Link and Paya are acting uncharitable—almost petty. But it seems ungrateful to say so.

"I'm sorry to ask you to babysit," Link says, walking a bit away from the Deku Tree for the barest scrap of a private conversation.

Zelda waves him off. "Don't be ridiculous. They're asleep anyway, so it's hardly difficult."

Link grins at her.

"Just don't make a habit of it," she says.

"You missed me," he says.

"Of course, I missed you. I was worried sick. But it's over now, so shoo."

"I missed you too." And then he warps away.

Despite her lack of bed, Zelda sleeps, snuggled up with a pile of koroks on the floor by the fire. The koroks twitch in their sleep, their bodies rattling so softly it keeps nightmares at bay.

The girls are clingy and tearful in the morning. Paya tries to get them to play tag (apparently a favorite) while Zelda cooks mushroom omelets, but they would much rather each claim a lap and clutch at arms and necks and shirts. Zelda's proud that she manages to cook one handed without burning anything.

Sometime in the night, Link stopped by to drop off instructions written in Gerudo and dye that will turn the girls' hair dark brown. From the wording of the instructions, Zelda can tell that the woman who wrote the instructions thinks Link is an idiot. The dye looks like mud and stains clothes, and the girls will not let go of whoever's holding them, so they all end up standing in the pool in waist deep water in their underwear, rubbing butter into the girls' foreheads and ears and the backs of their necks so the dye doesn't stain their skin. Then Paya holds both girls, while Zelda massages the dye into their scalps while wearing a pair of gloves that instantly turn rust red. The color gives her pause, but they keep going. They cover the girls' hair in Zelda's least favorite kerchiefs and let the dye sit until lunch. When they wash it out...the girls have red hair.

"It was supposed to be brown!" Zelda says, checking the instructions again. "Did I mistranslate something? Did I miss a step? Perhaps the red comes through more strongly when you start with white hair."

It doesn't look bad. Just...unexpected. And different. The girls are almost unrecognizable, especially when Zelda braids half their hair back instead of putting it up in Sheikah knots.

The girls still aren't ready to play, but they're more talkative. Zelda tears pages from her journal, and they spend some time coloring. Then the koroks help her get a set of spherical seeds together so they can play marbles. Then they make flower crowns. Then Zelda runs out of ideas, and it's only midafternoon, and the girls don't like her scavenger hunt idea and they don't want to hear about pulleys or elevators or smelting. Paya finds a large piece of tree bark and scrounges up some berries they can use as paint equivalents, and has the girls paint a picture, which she will then carve into a hundred pieces and have them put back together again as a puzzle. This turns out to be both uninteresting and a lot of work for Paya. Maybe Zelda can quickly sew together a couple of dolls? Children like dolls, right?

The girls are overly-relieved to see Link when he appears again in the afternoon with new clothes for the girls. Maybe its lack of sleep, but he's downright startled by the girls' new hair. The girls announce that they like the new braids. They don't mention the color, but they don't say they hate it, so Link shrugs. Dorian hasn't had time to dye his hair yet. Link leaves with the rest of the dye and a sparkle in his eye, like he's looking forward to not telling Dorian about his future red hair.

Zelda doesn't like the way the girls' clothes fit them and takes it upon herself to do some tailoring. This leaves entertaining the children to Paya, who takes the marbles and invents a game called "How Far Can I Throw This?" It's a success.

Link interrupts dinner to announce that everything's as ready as it's going to be, and he's ready to take the girls to see their dad. Ready to take them to see their new home. They cry as they hug Paya goodbye. It's hard to tell if they realize they'll never see her again. Link sweeps a kid onto each hip, gives Zelda an exhausted smile, and warps them away.

An hour later, he's back, ready to take Paya back to Hateno, where she can report everyone's safety and the cover story that Dorian was injured, and Since he is no longer able to keep up with his duties, he has retired a remote beach near Lurian Village.

Paya startles when Zelda hugs her goodbye.

The solitude of the forest is almost peaceful after a long day trying to keep children engaged, but she can feel panic creeping in, as if it's rolling into the glade with the fog. Thankfully, Link's not gone long, and when he returns, he flops down beside her to lie on the floor with a groan. He closes his eyes. "We should forget rebuilding Hyrule and start a business offering transportation services using the slate. We'd be rich in a week."

"You would have to charge people for your services."

"Don't tempt me."

She smiles down at him, the tightness in her chest finally loosening completely. "Have you eaten?"

"No."

"I cooked."

He opens his eyes. "You did?"

He sits up and serves himself everything that's left of dinner.

"We bought the house from Hudson instead of Bolson, so it was a decent price," he says between mouthfuls. "This is good."

"It's fine."

He shoves her with his shoulder, then just leans against her. "The girls have their own room. They like that. They wouldn't let go of their dad though. He carried Koko on the walk from the shrine, and she fell asleep before we even got into town."

"They wouldn't let go of Paya or me today either. It made dying their hair difficult."

Link grins. "Dorian's hair is even redder. We had to go to a stable out in Tabantha where he could get it cut really short. And he shaved. He looks weird, but not half bad."

He drops his empty bowl to the ground and lies back again with a groan. She scoots down as primly as she can to settle beside him, and he stretches out an arm, inviting her closer. She flicks her hair out of the way and snuggles into his side, resting her head on his shoulder, where she can feel the warmth of him. It's distressingly good to have him back. She ought to be more embarrassed that she's so pathetic.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

"Yes. I just worry for you, and when I worry...I guess my sealing powers think they're being called upon. And without anywhere to go they just..." She makes a meaningless gesture with her fingers. "They make me itchy."

He nods as if he knew that. "Did you sleep?"

"Yes."

"Enough?"

"Did you sleep?" she counters.

"No."

"Sleep now then." She closes her eyes and snuggles into his shoulder. She smells much nicer than she did when they were sharing the hammock, and she'd feel pleased with herself if she wasn't now a bit embarrassed about the past.

He taps her lower back. "Come on. Don't fall asleep on the floor."

"We won't fit in the bed. It's too small."

He scoffs and pulls her groggily to her feet. They don't both fit in the bed, so he levers a hip under hers and pulls her half on top of him. She's not going to fight about it.

His body doesn't soften the way it usually does when he dozes off. His breath stays shallow, as if he's trying not to disturb her. She looks up at him, and he's frowning at the ceiling, a hand on his forehead, pushing back his bangs, his elbow in the air. She glides her hand up his chest, his neck, to his face to stroke his cheek.

He blinks and then starts talking. "Koko and Cottla dug a little...indention under the bars of their cell. Not very deep, because they're so little. The Yiga didn't even notice. But it let the girls escape. Koko said they got out three times. She said one time they made it half way through the canyon before they caught her, but I don't know how she would know that. When they caught her the last time, they put a manacle on her. Around her middle, because they didn't have anything small enough to go around her wrists or ankles. I had to pry the damn thing open with my sword."

His fingers trace high on Zelda's waist, soothing the stretch where the manacle would rest.

"But Cottla, she's good at hide-and-seek. She hid and the Yiga couldn't find her, and I couldn't find her. I looked everywhere. In holes and behind crates and behind tapestries and under tables. I had to look for her while also hiding from the Yiga. I looked for days. I didn't know if she was even still inside the hideout. Maybe she got out and she was in the canyon or passed out in the desert or freezing in the highlands. Or maybe they'd just killed her. And the time limit I'd given Paya was creeping up. And the Yiga knew Koko was gone, and they were out looking for her and Dorian, and they were going to find them any minute, and they were starting to notice that I was moving things around inside. I was going to have to leave without Cottla. But I didn't know if I could. How could I leave her there?"

He sighs, his eyes still on the ceiling.

"But you found her," Zelda says.

"I found her. I was ready to just take on the whole Yiga clan, so I could shout for her to come out. But then I found her. Under a wood decking. Probably a two-foot clearance between the decking and the ground. People had been walking over her for days. I'd walked over her a dozen times. Getting her out without getting caught was a nightmare."

She strokes his cheek again. "I'm grateful."

He looks down at her. "For what?"

"That you saved them. That you were brave. That you care. It's my fault they were put in danger, so I'm grateful you brought the situation to a successful conclusion."

He shakes his head slightly. "It's my fault. If I'd just sent Dorian into hiding after last time, this wouldn't have happened."

"The Yiga would have designed a new threat."

"But not one involving children."

"Not on involving Sheikah children."

He pushes the hand on his forehead over his eyes. "We need to do something about them. I thought they'd scatter without a leader, but now they're worse than ever."

"Later," she says, her fingers brushing his cheek. "This was a victory. Celebrate it. At least for tonight."

His eyes are bright as he looks at her—looks at her so long and so candid that she ought to look away. He looks at her as if he can see everything about her, and yet he doesn't look away. And she lets him look. And the longer she holds his eyes, the tighter and thicker and the air grows around them, the more inevitable this moment feels. Her hand slips from his cheek to the back of his neck, ready to guide him in when he moves. But he doesn't. And it's painful.

"Zelda," he breathes, and she shivers at the sound of her name on his tongue. "There's a korok on your head."

From right beside her ear comes, a rattle and a "Twee hee!"

Zelda shrieks and jerks away, throwing a half dozen koroks off the bed.


	23. Chapter 23 Korok Forest

Link explains that over the past year, he's been playing hide-and-seek not only with Cottla, but also with the koroks. When he finds a korok, it gives him a korok seed as a prize. What is a korok seed? It's better not to ask. Link then gives these seeds to Hetsu, the largest korok Zelda has ever seen, who has spent the past few days up in the Deku Tree's canopy, where "The music rings every which-y way! Shakala!" In exchange for korok seeds, Hetsu enchants Link's many pouches so he can magically store more and more weapons. But even after reaching the uppermost limit of how many swords he can have, Link continued to find koroks and gather seeds. How many more? It's better not to ask.

Before they leave the forest, Link coaxes Hetsu down to the ground and spends an overly-long amount of time negotiating for Hetsu to put those extra seeds towards enchanting the pouches on Zelda's belt.

"This way you can carry more bows," Link explains.

"Could I carry more books?" she asks. "Or journals? Or samples?"

"Shakala! Ample sample!"

Link raises an eyebrow. "Does that mean yes?"

"Yes!" Hetsu shouts. "The princess needs to carry her book-a-looks!" Then he does a dance. Zelda claps for him when he's done. Then she claps again for the next expansion. And the next. They're there a while. Zelda reaches the limit of how much Hetsu can help her before they run out of korok seeds. Link won't meet her eyes. She tries to do the math to figure out how many seeds Link has found and how much time he's spent on this, but the mind reels.

She redistributes all her things, packing them away, and she's ready to set out to the Rito Village, when she catches Link finishing a conversation with the Deku Tree and staring wistfully at the plinth for the Master Sword. "What is it?" she asks.

He shakes himself and turns to her. "Nothing. Are you ready?"

She narrows her eyes, trying to figure him out. Then she remembers, "There's a challenge here that you wanted to do!"

"Yeah, but I can do it later."

"Or you can do it now. We're already here."

"We can glowy-string-travel here anytime. It's fine."

She argues, "A month ago you were looking forward to this."

"And two days ago you were worried sick I was leaving you to fight the Yiga."

"But that was the Yiga and rescuing endangered children. This is just a shrine trial."

He blinks at her. "You know I can still die doing a shrine trial, right?"

It probably should have occurred to her earlier, but...no, she had not considered that possibility. She frowns at him. Does this mean she should be worried about him more often? Link regularly throws himself at wizrobes, so worrying about him every time he's in danger seems like it won't go well for her.

"If I may interject."

Zelda startles, but Link doesn't, and they turn to look up at the Deku tree.

"If you should fall during the Trial of the Sword, you will simply be returned here, having failed the trial."

"So I won't be _dead_ dead?" Link asks.

"Perhaps I shouldn't have told you that. With foreknowledge of the consequences, you may not take the trial seriously."

Link scoffs. "I thought we knew each other better than that."

The Deku Tree says nothing.

But Link's frowning again. "Aren't you in a hurry to get to the Rito Village?"

"No," she says. "Do your trial."

"Do you want me to bring you somewhere first? I can take you back to Death Mountain. Yunobo's right, he and Vah Rudania can protect you as long as you stay onboard. Or I can take you to Hateno and you can stay in the tech lab with the Sheikah."

"I'm fine here."

"Do you want me to get Paya?"

"Link." She takes his face in her hands. "I'll be able to get some work done. This is important to you, so please go."

He still hesitates. "I don't want you to be lonely."

Her heart melts in such a way that it wells up in her eyes. "There are hundreds of koroks here, and if I figure out how to farm glowing seedpods before we leave, we'll be better off inside Vah Medoh."

He doesn't know what she's talking about, but he says, "Okay." Zelda takes a step back, and he takes out his sword, turning it to plunge it into the pedestal. He takes a breath, then disappears as if he's warped away.

Zelda stares for a minute. The sword is back where she set it a hundred years ago, so eerily similar without its master that she shivers and looks away. She promised Link that she'll be fine. "How long will he be gone?"

The Deku Tree answers, "It is impossible to say."

She nods, sighs, and heads off to chop down a glowing pea pod.

#

If she plants a pea from the glowing pea pods and waters it thoroughly, it will sprout in about an hour. It reaches full size, complete with a pea pod containing three peas of its own, within four hours. Once removed from the pod, a seed will glow for another six hours. Once it has dimmed, it begins to glow again if exposed to direct sunlight or if submerged or doused with water. She is in the process of testing how the durration of sun exposure relates to how long it glows on its own, how many times one seed can be recharged, and how long she can go between recharges and have it still work. All these experiments will need to be repeated outside the Korok Forest.

The koroks are not unhelpful during her experiments. (They even told her about the water trick.) But they do like getting off topic in their chattering, and they like to take the freed peas and carry them away, forcing Zelda to stop her work and chase them.

While her experiments run, she sits by the sword plinth and works on embroidering her paraglider. In the mid-afternoon, the koroks hit a specific rhythm that triggers a memory of malice bubbling and popping, the sound of the wind in the trees reminding her of the constant, full roar of Ganon's breathing. She goes to find Hetsu, who pleads with Zelda to dance with him. She teaches Hetsu and the koroks to waltz, which they do poorly but with enthusiasm, and they teach her a song with words that change each time you sing it.

When night falls, Zelda makes herself dinner and brings it out so she can continue to sit by the sword. She wraps the blanket from inside the Deku Tree around her shoulders. The sword glows like the silent princesses beside it. With no one around, she removes her kerchief and tries for the first time to braid her hair into a crown the way she used to wear it all the time. It doesn't work. Chunks of it are still too short, and they stick out of her braids no matter what she tries. She dozes off to the sound of the koroks singing.

Link reappears at about four in the morning in a swirl of magic as the strings of his form bind together. He's in the same posture he was in when he vanished—head bowed and both hands gripping the sword. As soon as the color comes back into his form, he unfreezes. He straightens, the sword coming free.

He topples over backward.

"Link!"

She throws off her blanket and clambers to his side, taking his face in her hands. "Link! Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he groans. His eyes are closed and his chest rises and falls in great waves. He's spread-eagle, the Master Sword still held tight in one hand even as it's thrown out at a careless angle. He coughs. "There was a Hinox."

"A Hinox? You had to fight a Hinox?" But he fought Hinoxes all the time. They almost never even bruised him, much less took all day.

He flops his arm onto his chest, squeezing her hand, which is over his heart. "It was like—" He coughs again. "—Eventide Island all over again. They took all my stuff." He sighs. "Zelda, I like having my stuff."

"What stuff?" Knowing Link, that could mean anything from foraged food stuffs to heart containers, from bundles of wood to the magical gifts he received from the champions' spirits. From the way he's gripping the Master Sword, she has a pretty good guess it was the sword.

" _All_ my stuff. No supplies. No weapons. They even took my pants. I hate it when they take my pants."

"You fought a Hinox naked?"

"I fought a lot of things naked."

She has no idea what to say to that.

He squeezes her fingers again and opens his eyes enough to grin up at her. "But there's a pair of pants at the end. In a chest. And a cooking pot. I wasn't in good enough shape this time to keep going, but I'll do better next time."

"Next time?" She's not sure that's the best idea.

With a groan, he hauls himself to sitting upright. "Yeah. I did the first part, but there's definitely another, and I'd bet a hundred rupees there's another one after that. Maybe I can skip the first part. I need to go back and finish, but I just..." He adjusts his grip on his sword. "I'll do better next time." He grins up at her again. "Look!" He holds the sword out for her to see.

She's not sure what she's looking at. It looks like the Master Sword. She's been watching it all day.

"It's more powerful now. All the time. Not just when there's malice around. The next round, I'm going to get it even stronger."

He reaches for her, and she helps him to his feet. He manages to stand on his own, but she keeps hold of his hand anyway. He threads his fingers through hers.

"It's late," she says, guiding him towards the Deku Tree. "You should sleep before you go back in."

"And eat," he says.

"Of course."

"I should take a defensive elixir right before I go back in. A really strong one. I can't bring it in with me, but maybe the effects will still work."

"I'll see what I can do."

"I know what I'm doing this time," he says again.

#

Link gets a few hours of sleep, then goes back into the trial. He's gone for nearly two full days, during which time Zelda finishes her paraglider, makes herself a simple dress out of the green fabric she bought a month ago, and plants a small orchard of peas. The koroks like watering them. They teach her the knots they used to make the blanket. It reminds her of how the wires inside the guardians are bound together.

She tries not to think about Link running around naked in a shrine. He's probably cold. Maybe she can make him a blanket!

It's almost midnight on the third day of his trials when he reappears. She catches him before he falls to the ground. His body hasn't changed, but there's an exhaustion under his eyes, in the hollow of his cheeks. He looks like he ought to be covered in bruises and grime, like his tunic should be wrinkled and dirtied, his hair a mess of sweat and dirt. But it doesn't. He looks as put together as he looked yesterday morning.

She wedges her shoulder under his armpit, and holds him up with one hand on his chest and one on his back. For a second she thinks he might be dead, or passed out. Her heart cramps more than it pounds, a constant, panicked flutter.

Then he sucks in a breath and cringes, and her whole body sags in relief so much she almost drops him.

"Link?"

He grins down at her. It's tired and loopy. "Guess what?"

"You did it?"

He grins at her. It's the one that spreads slowly over his face and makes her legs weak. He squeezes her in what is unquestionably a hug rather than a need to keep his feet. "I did it," he says, and presses a kiss to her temple.

She promised Paya that she would speak to him about the kissing. She'd forgotten how frustratingly tingly and confused it makes her. She ought to be irritated with him, but he's back and he's tired, and she'll speak to him tomorrow and settle everything.

He re-sheathes his sword and heads toward the Deku Tree with a contented sigh, Zelda still tucked under his arm.

"First there was wind everywhere, and then I had to fight in the dark, and then there were a bunch of guardians. Then it was thundering, and then it was hot, and then it was cold and I didn't have any pants for that. Then I shot a lynel. And then—then it just got ridiculous."

She presents him with food she cooked. It's extra hearty, and the koroks assured her that it was "scrummy." She's not sure she trusts their judgement, but Link eats it with a soft smile, and says nothing about how bad it is, but then maybe he's just being nice.

As soon as he's done, he falls back onto the bed she ought to have been using these past few days. He moans as his back pops. Then he snags her wrist and pulls her down on top of him and closes his eyes.

It's unfair. Unfair how her heart squeezes at the smallest sweetness. Unfair how he's asleep within minutes and she lies awake, wondering how on earth she should handle this.

#

"Before we go," she says as he's packing his things the next morning, "could we take a walk? There's something I wish to discuss with you."

He gives her a look that says her words came out far more ominous than she intended, and she gives him a beaming smile to soothe his worries. It doesn't seem to work, because he still looks distrustful, but he sets down his shield and follows her out of the tree.

She smiles up at the sun and clasps her hands behind her back to show that she's enjoying herself. There's no problem here. Just a friendly walk and talk between friends who are friendly.

Link is watching her more than where he's going, looking wary as if he expects her to spin around and stab him at any second.

There's no putting him at ease, so she charges right in. "I've been thinking."

He waits.

"You should be more careful about the ways in which you show affection."

His eyebrows pinch together in confusion. They stop walking between a pair of tree roots taller than she is.

"I'm not at all offended, but others might be. Physical contact of the sort you've been preforming comes with specific connotations. With certain assumptions. People may assume that you're trying to establish a romantic relationship. Or a sexual one. So if you're unprepared for that, I think it best you not kiss people who don't understand the situation."

His face has shuttered into his unreadable, blank look.

He must not understand her. She will have to explain further. "It's really nothing to be embarrassed about. Or ashamed of. We all need physical contact, especially after long bouts of solitude. And you're unused to traveling with a companion. I understand that it's a friendly gesture, but I know you quite well at this point, and other people may not understand that it's no more than a display of joy and comradery. Other people may not understand that, so I think it best that you not kiss other people."

"Not kiss...What other people?"

She shrugs with her hands. It's a little frustrating that he's not understanding. "I don't know. Yunobo, or the people of Tarrey Town, or...Paya, or the women who work at the stables."

His lips twitch towards what could be considered a smile, his posture loosening ever so slightly. "Is this about how I kissed Paya on the cheek?"

"Not entirely. Paya understood, but we both agree that you should be more cautious. People might misunderstand, and that might make things awkward. That might jeopardize your relationships or our mission as a whole." She nods emphatically until she has a thought. "Unless, of course, you _—_ you _wanted_ to pursue a romantic relationship." She doesn't care for that idea. In addition to her jealousy, Link agrees to practically anything anyone suggests that doesn't involve Zelda's safety. People will surely take advantage of him. "But if that were the case, I think you should discuss it with me first, so I can properly vet them and make sure they have your best interests at heart." It would be difficult, but she would do that for him if he really wanted it.

His smirk has vanished, his posture tightening again. He crosses his arms over his chest.

She's annoyed him. He's right, of course. He can make his own decisions. "Not that you need my approval! I just want you to know that I'm here to offer emotional support and help you navigate these awkward social situations."

"So what you're saying is that you don't want me to kiss anyone but you?"

She flushes and looks away. "Well, when you say it like that, you make it sound like...I would be jealous."

"Would you?"

"That's—That's not what this is about."

"This is about how apparently you tolerate it when I show you affection, because you think I'm socially inept and don't know what I'm doing."

"You're not socially inept. Obviously, you're very personable and people greatly enjoy your company."

"So you're assuming I'm just handsy."

" _Handsy_ is so crass. I'd call you _physically affectionate_."

"And I should tone it down."

"Exactly!"

"You don't want me to kiss you again."

"I—Oh. Well you could if...if you felt...motivated to do so. I assure you, it doesn't bother me."

He huffs and refuses to look at her. "If you don't want me to try to kiss you again, I won't."

"I..." This conversation is getting away from her. Clearly, she doesn't _not_ want that. But if she says that she _does_ , then that makes her just as bad as those women she's warning him against. "What do _you_ want?" she asks.

"What do I want?" He stares at her like that's an unreasonable question. "Zelda..." When she gives him her interested, patient look, showing she's listening—she's trying! She really is!—he scrapes a hand through his hair in exasperation. "I want to listen to you go on a rant about technology I don't understand, and I want to help you get gears and pulleys for your inventions, and I want you to use me for your experiments, and I want to help you bring Vah Rudania down the mountain and across the fields to move things around that don't need to be moved around. I want you to boss me around until I'm too old to argue with you. I want to cook for you, and I want to keep you warm every night in the house we live in together. I want to wake up every morning and watch the way your eyelashes flutter when you sleep."

He throws his hands in the air. "I want all that, and if that's all you'll give me then I'll take it and I'll never say another word. But since I haven't been clear, let me spell it out: I want you. I want to know what—what your hips feel like in my hands! I want to know what it tastes like when you moan into my mouth. I want to know what makes your breath catch, and I want you to press me up against a wall and have your way with me, and—yes, Zelda— _I want to kiss you_. And I get it, okay? I know it's hard for you, and I'm trying to give you space, because I know you loved—you loved me from Before, but I'm...I'm not him anymore, and I'll never be him, and I don't want to be him, because I like the way I am now, and the only thing that sucks about being me is that you love _him_. And I get that that must be awful for you, but I just hoped..."

"Wait." She holds up her hand to stop him and the endless waves of confusion. None of this makes sense. What is he even saying? Where does she even start? "You think I was in love with you Before?"

He freezes. His eyes widen as the color drains from his face. "You..." He blinks, replaying through the few memories he has. In a small voice he says, "Your powers woke, because...you loved me?"

Her face heats. "Well. I mean. I certainly cared for you. A great deal. And your death was very upsetting _..."_ She doesn't know where she's going with this.

He speaks slowly, as if questioning every word. "But, Mipha said..."

"What did Mipha say?"

He swallows. "She said her magic worked better when she thought of someone she loved."

"When did she say that?" That would have been helpful!

"I...guess she didn't really?"

She stares at him.

He stares back. She's never seen him look so boggled.

"Hokay!" He snaps his fingers and pops a fist into his palm to make a rhythmic _pop pop thwack_ , and then he lets both hands swing back to his sides. "So! I was wrong about that. No more kissing. Got it. Good talk. I'm just going to go..." He points in a random direction and starts to walk away with a purpose.

"Wait. No. Link."

"Look, I'll just be gone a...a bit. Just let me lick my wounds and feel like an idiot, and when I come back, we can pretend this whole horrible conversation—"

"Let me finish."

"I'd really rather—"

"Ugh!"

She stomps up to him, grabs his hands, and presses them tight against her hips. He sucks in a breath, his fingers jerking as if touching her burns him. She holds him in place and glares at him until he stills. A moment later, he closes his eyes, presses his forehead to hers, and lets out a shaking breath.

She revels in every point of contact as his palms sink into her flesh, as his fingers spread and then squeeze. He said he wants her. He wants to touch her. And this must be what it feels like to be electrocuted, because her whole body's trembling with want. She drags her hands up his arms to his shoulders and digs her nails into the fabric of his shirt.

She has to swallow before she speaks, and her voice still trembles as she says, "You'll have to wake up much earlier if you're going to watch me sleep."

"Zelda," he breathes. He sounds pained. "Please don't if you don't mean it."

"I mean it."

"You just said—"

"It doesn't matter if I loved you Before. I'm sorry I got caught up on that. It's how I process. It doesn't matter, because I love you now."

"I've been kissing you for weeks to see if you're interested, and you're clearly not. You _just_ told me not to kiss you."

She pulls away enough to throw her hands in the air. "Because you give me these little, teasing cheek pecks! They take me by surprise! And clearly you don't mean anything by them or you would have—you—I don't know! It's torture! I'd rather you not kiss me at all, if you're not going to do it properly. At least then I won't be embarrassing myself getting so wound up all the time!"

He takes a moment before he says, "Properly."

"Yes!"

Another moment. When he speaks again, she can hear the smile in his voice. "Those cheek pecks get you wound up?"

She glares at him.

His eyes are burning, and she's on fire. "You really like me," he says. "Now? Not just the me from before?" His voice is low and rough, and it makes her shiver.

"Well, _right now_ you're being very annoy—"

He kisses her. Hungry and desperate and violent as they clutch at one another, his hand in her hair, and her chest pressed to his, and his breath hot against her cheek. She clutches at the collar of his shirt, pulling him down, closer. Her arm wraps around his shoulders as if they're about to warp away, and his thumb traces soft and frantic arcs along her cheek. And he's ducking down and pulling her up onto her toes, and she's pulling him tighter, wrapping her arms more firmly, and he's shifting his stance, and they're moving, writhing, pressing back and forth in a roll of power passing back and forth between them, trying to pull more and more and more from each other.

She breaks the kiss in a gasp, throwing her face to the sky, and he's instantly sucking wet, opened mouth kisses to her neck. Her heart pounds like the ocean in her ears, and her skin sings as she tries to get closer. But there's another song, one that he catches before she does. His lips slow and his ears perk and his hands slow, and she tries to calm her breathing to hear what danger he's noted.

It's cheering. And whistling.

Hundreds of koroks are sitting on the great roots around them, hovering in the air, twirling through the grass. One of them starts shouting, "Oo lala!" and the rest pick it up like a verse sung in a round.

Link tightens his hold on her before she can jerk away in embarrassment. His breath is still heavy as he gasps into her ear, "How much of a sin is it to kill a forest spirit?"

The puff of his words against her ear makes her shudder, and she groans and reclaims his mouth. If she were to shove him up against the tree root, she would check off every want on his list. Koroks be damned. They'll get bored in a minute anyway.

Link laughs silently against her mouth and pulls back enough to escape. "You want to get out of here?"

"Desperately."

He hikes an eyebrow and says, "Oo lala!"

She glares at him. He kisses her again.


	24. Chapter 24 Tabantha

They warp to the Tabantha Bridge Stable, with the plan to make their way to the Rito stable on horseback, clearing the monsters as they go, just as they did with the Zora's Domain and Goron city. They'll most likely arrive too late to visit the Rito Chief, so they'll spend the night at the stable and head into town in the morning. Zelda secretly hopes that their progress will be swift, and they'll be able to sleep in Rito Village tonight, but she knows it's a long shot and not worth mentioning or hurrying.

While Link gets the horses ready, Zelda shades her eyes and looks out at the canyon, like a great gash that stretches as far as the eye can see. It has probably changed in the last hundred years, but not in ways she can perceive. The Great Tabantha Bridge, however, is shockingly alien. It's a disaster. The wood has faded and rotted away to create holes in the floorboard. The guardrails—once crafted so precisely that you couldn't find the nails or see the edges between slats—are now bound haphazardly together where they exist at all. The bridge was once so solid that they Hylian cavalry could march two abreast without slowing or breaking ranks, and the bridge wouldn't even creak. Now she's not sure it will hold her weight, even if she eases her way across, one wary step at a time.

She's standing slack jawed, gaping at the bridge, when Link appears.

"What happened?!" she demands.

"What do you mean?"

She gestures at the bridge with her whole arm. "The bridge! It was a marvel of engineering, and now...the are _holes_!"

"Yeah. Watch your step."

She rips her attention from the bridge to stare at him. "You're not suggesting that we _cross_ here."

He looks confused. "I thought that was the plan?"

"Is it even safe?"

He considers her a moment, then braces his hands on her shoulders and bends down to look in her eyes. "There wouldn't be a stable here, or all the travelers if the bridge wasn't usable. It might not look pretty, but it's held up through the Calamity, so it's not like it'll fall apart the second we step on it."

She doesn't care for this at all. Just because it hasn't collapsed yet, doesn't mean it won't. Has anyone tried to make repairs over the last hundred years? Yes. She can see places where someone has _bound the bridge together with rope_. Why didn't anyone warn her about this? Why isn't this a higher priority?

"We should adjust our schedule and fix this bridge before continuing on to Rito Village."

Link guides her around to the side of her horse—the white stallion again, but this time without the royal gear. He cups his hands, offering her a step up, then hefts her into the saddle as she continues to talk.

"I know we've been putting off getting funds for larger infrastructure projects, but perhaps this would be a good time to return to the castle and raid the treasury You could clear a path through the castle instead of clearing a path through Tabantha." And she could hold down her panic attack at setting foot back inside her prison.

Or maybe she can't.

Link's only response is to plant a kiss on her knee. It's the only place he can reach. It's so sweet that her chest tightens and her stomach twists, but then he walks away and pulls himself onto the back of a blue spotted horse. When he's ready, he glances over at her, and he must catch her frown before she tucks it away and busies herself getting accustomed to the reigns, because his face bunches in confusion, then smooths in understanding. "I didn't do that properly, did I?"

"You did not," she says.

He grins and guides his horse a few shuffling steps closer to her and leans too far out of his saddle. "Sorry. What about this? And this? And this? And this?" He sprinkles the side of her face with tiny, gnat-like kisses until she squirms away with a squeak and presses a hand over his grinning face to shove him back. As soon as she drops her hand, he leans close again. "No?" His voice lowers, softens, his eyelids growing heavier or just lowering to her lips. "What about this?"

He kisses her, tender and warm, and he lingers until she sags into it, until she forgives his ridiculousness. He pulls back enough to speak, but stays close enough that he brushes her lip, feather soft, with his own. It sends a shock down her spine.

"Better?" he asks.

"Better."

There's a flustered, light-headedness working its way from her face to her shoulders and lungs. She refuses to turn and see how many people at the stable are watching them. She feels a bit like her horse is judging her.

Link's eyes glow with pride and mischief as he pulls himself upright and sets his horse off across the bridge. Zelda follows, not fully comprehending that she's done so until her horse is fully on the bridge, which creaks and sways but does not collapse under their weight.

"This is a disgrace!" she says as they pass a rotting hole large enough for her whole horse. She pulls out the slate to take pictures. "It's hazardous. Someone could fall."

"Yeah, and then it takes all day to climb back up."

Zelda stares at the back of his head, because she's absolutely positive this means Link has fallen off this bridge.

"The Gorons could certainly help make this structurally sound once more, although they don't work with wood, so what they would build would be less repairs and more tearing this down and constructing a new bridge. I don't know. This must be fixed immediately. But it's also a cultural landmark. And a feat of engineering! Look how well it's held up over a century even without decent repairs! I can't believe we've lost the knowledge and skill sets to repair this in the Calamity. On top of the loss of life, the deterioration of our technology and the loss of cultural sites are tragedies. And to lose this too...I don't think we can in good conscience replace it, unless we made an exact replica...I wonder if that would be possible." Her heart is beating a bit too fast for her liking. She's dizzy, but then maybe that's the vertigo from looking down through the holes into the sickening drop below. "Do you think Bolson Construction could help? Their taste levels are questionable, but their constructions are at least stable."

Link looks over his shoulder, blinks at her once and says, "You know, I'm positive you were in love with me."

She startles. "What?"

"Before. You were in love with me. Hearts in your eyes. Head over heels."

She scoffs. "You're clearly mis-remembering. And I thought you found it upsetting that I supposedly loved you."

"It's still upsetting. But seeing how you're so deeply in denial about it, kind of means I'm winning."

"You're _winning_?"

"You can't admit you love him, but you can admit you love me, so that means you love me more than him."

" _Him_?"

"Me."

She shakes her head in slow confusion, but he has turned back around and can't see her. He probably knows what she's doing anyway. "It's not like you're two different people," she says.

He doesn't answer.

"It's like...have you ever had a friend who you didn't see for a long time, and when you met them again they'd changed, but they're still the same? It's not as if they became unrecognizable. It's as if they grew up, as if they've had experiences without you. But you still find yourself sinking into old rhythms and old comforts. Have you ever experienced that?"

"Not that I remember."

"Well, it's like that. You're recognizable, but you've been through a great deal, and you've grown up, and you've changed. There's nothing sinister in it."

They come to the end of the bridge and fall into step side by side. Link points up at a plateau above them. "You yelled at me there."

She yelled at him a lot of places, so she believes him even if she can't recall the particular incident. She tries to hide her embarrassment of her behavior by saying, "Clearly it was because I was _in love_ with you."

"Hmm. Maybe, but I don't think so. I'm pretty sure it was after that."

He has no idea what he's talking about. He leads them to the tower, then dismounts, hands his horse's reins to her, and runs ahead to clear the camps of moblins. Zelda follows behind at a distance. It's almost like she and the horses are having a leisurely stroll, it just that there's metal clashing and a lot of running footsteps and grunting ahead of them.

She meets up with him at the base of the tower, where he has a streak of dirt down his side from a dodge that turned into a roll. He's wrapping ribbons and threading feathers into his hair, and when she dismounts, he abandons his work to dig through his pouches and hand her a circlet with a ruby the size of her eye. "It might be cold up there," he says. The unfinished ribbon on the right side of his face, starts to unspiral. She tucks the circlet into a pocket, and before he can protest that she needs to wear it, she takes over rebraiding his hair. He did a fine job, it's just that she can do it faster. (And maybe she wants to touch him. A little.) He holds very still, barely breathing, head lowered for her, and she tries to ignore the way his eyes never leave her face.

When she's done, she hurries through unknotting her blue kerchief and shaking out her hair and settling the circlet and putting the kerchief back on. Again, she ignores the way Link watches every move of her fingers, the way he still doesn't seem to be breathing.

He steps close to warp, pulling her flush against him, her chest to his, his arm warm and possessive around the small of her back, and they've done this so many times, and yet—

She has trouble pulling her eyes from his enough to look down at the slate and warp them to the top of the tower.

The moment they reform in the wind and the chill, as if he started the movement before they warped, his lips seal against hers. She hums into it, and wraps him close, one hand dragging into his hair, one hand dragging down his spine. He tucks the slate into place at her waist, then tugs her belt to pull her hips closer. Closer. They can't seem to get close enough.

She blames legs. They don't press together in a satisfying way.

Link solves this problem by half-toppling to the floor, his back against the guidance stone and Zelda in his lap, where she can squeeze his thighs with her own. She likes that tremendously.

She loses herself in the pliant rhythm of his mouth, and the warm trails of his hands over her skin. She loses herself in mapping the back of his neck, the hills of his arms and shoulder, the dip of his sides with her palms. She maps: here he shudders, here he sighs.

She shivers, and he pulls away, and her lips are swollen and tender, and she wants to trace her fingertips over his to see if he feels the same. It takes him a few tries to force words from his throat. "We're going to be so late."

She looks up to find the sun, and—oh goodness! She springs to her feet, or at least she tries to but she gets a tangled and one of her legs has fallen asleep, so she stumbles her way to standing, and tries to catch her breath and smooth back her hair and remember what she was doing. The slate. Right. Yes.

She sets it to search for hinoxes, then forces herself to calm while the guidance stone runs. Link makes his way to his feet with much more grace, but he also took his time. He stands behind her, hooks his chin over her shoulder, and slips an arm around her waist. She swallows and refuses to look at him. She searches for taluses. Link smacks a terrible, pecking kiss under her ear, which makes her both excited and grumpy, so she shoulders him away. He laughs and backs off so she can use her brain again.

They mark the major monsters, and then paraglide down. They circle the tower round and round in spirals that grow tighter when Link grins at her and suddenly it becomes a race. Zelda laughs, her legs swinging outward as he makes a sharp turn. Zelda makes it to the ground first, but Link lands directly on his horse's back, which startles it terribly. "Whoa! Whoa! It's just me."

Link kills a talus and some moblin camps and some lizalfos, and they arrive at Rito Stable after nightfall. Much later than they had intended. Zelda's over-enthusiast travel plans are blown to pieces. Link says nothing and doesn't even give her a pointed look, but she knows what he's thinking.

Accordion music wafts over the stable, and as she dismounts she catches sight of Kass, the wandering bard.

Link greets him with, "You're so close to home!" and the music falters to a stop as Kass turns to them.

"Oh. I didn't see you there."

"You should pay more attention to your surroundings while you play. If I was a monster, I would have bit you."

"True. True. I get lost in he music." Kass eyes Zelda over Link's shoulder, then lowers his voice to something private. "There's something I've been meaning to speak to you about. I have a song that I need you to hear."

Link's posture shifts with Kass' change of tone. He's more attentive. More serious. Zelda wonders if she should leave. Maybe she can take care of the horses while they talk.

"Thank you," Kass says. "I wanted to talk to you about my teacher. He was of the Sheikah tribe, and he was the court poet to the Hyrulian Royal family. At the time, there was a beautiful princess, who was apparently close in age to my teacher. Even though she did not return his affections, my teacher fell in love with her."

"Oh really?" Link asks. Again, he's not looking at her, but she can feel his attention like a spotlight, and she can tell that he's going to use this to tease her later.

He clearly has no idea that this isn't even remotely news to her. The court poet was embarrassingly obvious about his affections, and it annoyed absolutely everyone. He wrote a ballad once about how Zelda was trying her best, which he most likely wrote with the best of intentions to defend her, but it just ended up emphasizing her failures. In song. To everyone. And to top it off, it was catchy, so the whole court was humming it for months. Zelda avoided him at all costs. When he was around, both Link and Urbosa had a tendency to puff out their chests and make themselves look taller and then glare at him until the poet got nervous and excused himself. Urbosa would _tch_ and then say something rude about the young man, but Zelda was never sure if Link was doing it consciously or not. The court poet's crush got so bad that Zelda's father pulled him aside at one point and told him to tone it down or find other employment.

She was hopeful that if she didn't reclaim her role as princess, this kind of attention would stop. It's irksome to learn that she was wrong.

"Yes," Kass says. "But the princess only had eyes for her escort, her knight attendant. My teacher was consumed with jealousy. The knight was neither nobility nor royalty, and—in my teacher's eyes—unworthy of her affections."

Link hums in understanding. Zelda can feel the smugness radiating off him.

It's nonsense. The poet clearly needed an excuse for why Zelda did not return his affections, and decided to blame Link. A romantic rival was more poetic than a princess who would rather not be embarrassed by epic songs about her failures.

But Kass idolizes the man, and she can't say any of this in front of him.

"And then the Calamity struck."

Link becomes more serious. Zelda finds herself doing the same. She steps closer.

"My teacher believed that the hero would reappear to beat back the Calamity. He poured his belief into a song. That song is what I need you to hear."

Link nods. Kass plays. Zelda slips her hand into Link's.

It...still doesn't mean she was in love with him.


	25. Chapter 25 Rito Village

"Is it true?" "Vah Rudania's alive again?" "What happened?" "How?"

The moment they step onto the main island of Rito Village, a swarm of feathers descends upon them. At least three Rito children are gripping Link's legs, and it's hard to count how many adults have surrounded them. At first Zelda thought they were glad to see Link, hoping he would fix their various problems, but it seems they only have one thing on their mind.

"Fyson flew in to tell us." "I thought you defeated Vah Rudania." "Is Vah Medoh going to come back to life too?" "You said we'd be safe."

"Whoa whoa whoa," Link says, holding up his hands, and trying to get the Rito to calm down and stop talking over him. "Everything's fine."

"How is everything fine?" "Vah Rudania's back!" "He said it's stomping all the way down the mountain." "Is it coming for us?"

"I'll explain everything if you just—"

"Did you make it come back to life?" "If Vah Medoh turns on again, we're banishing you." "You lied to us."

Link groans in frustration. To Zelda he says, "I'm just going to talk to Kaneli," and grabs her wrist before trying to push through the crowd. Zelda slips out of his grip, throws back her shoulders, and faces the crowd, who seem to notice her for the first time. Their surprise that Link isn't alone gives her a split second of silence in which to speak.

"About two months ago, I'm sure you saw Vah Medoh shoot an energy beam towards the castle, and then power down completely. That was Vah Medoh doing her part in sealing away Calamity Ganon, assisting Link—"

"—and Zelda," Link adds.

"—in defeating the evil for good. We've come here to confirm that the Calamity is finally over, and to see what assistance and resources you require for reconstruction."

"What does that mean for us?" asks a Rito with light purple feathers.

"It means that the guardians have deactivated. It means that there are no more blood moons, so when we kill monsters, they stay dead. It means we can reopen travel and trade. We can rebuild.

"As for Vah Rudania, the Divine Beasts powered down because, with their duty complete, the spirits of their pilots ascended to the spirit world. We reactivated Vah Rudania with a new Goron pilot. That's why she's traveling around Death Mountain. If you will allow us, we can reactivate Vah Medoh, connect her with a pilot, and then she can be a tool for the Rito."

The crowd stares at her for a long moment, during which Zelda doesn't dare to breathe.

Then they explode.

"What sort of tool?" "If the Gorons have a Divine Beast, we need one too!" "It just flies around and shoots things. That's not a tool. That's a weapon." "Why did the Gorons get theirs first?" "Who's going to pilot it?" "You mean a new Rito Champion?"

Link snags her wrist again, and this time she lets him pull her up the stairs.

#

The crowd obeys some unspoken rule and does not enter the elder's home while Zelda and Link are speaking with him. Instead, they hover on the landing outside the door. They can hear every word, but don't make a sound other than to whisper to one another. Unlike the Gorons, they are very good at whispering. The wing feathers held up to cover their words do an excellent job.

Link is back in his Champion's tunic today, and Zelda is back in her blue and white outfit. It's cooler here, and the long sleeves aren't so bad. They look like a proper delegation again.

Unlike the crowd, Kaneli is calm and slow to speak. He nods as he listens, then strokes his beard and thinks before responding.

"Of course, we must have our own Divine Beast," he decides. The crowd outside shifts in agitation or excitement. "The question is how we will select a Champion."

"You may want to see who would be interested," Zelda suggests. "People have feared the Divine Bests for so long, we've had trouble finding willing candidates."

"You think no one among the Rito would be interested in carrying on the legacy of the great Champion Revali, in being the next pride of the Rito? You think no one would be interested in honor and glory because they are _afraid_?"

Zelda bows her head. "I did not intend to imply cowardice. For that I apologize. I mean that, in our experience, people doubt the efficacy of the Divine Beasts."

Kaneli hums. Then he lifts his voice to address the crowd. "Who among you will be the next Rito Champion?"

There's a great shifting of air, and Zelda turns to look over her shoulder.

Every single Rito, including the three children, has a wing raised in the air.

#

When the crowd disperses—mostly to gossip about how the next Champion will be selected and who they will be—Zelda and Link decide that their first step is to get Zelda some cold weather clothes. It's too cold for her to even visit Vah Medoh as she is, and even though he insists they can make it work with the clothes he has, she insists that if they're going to stay here for any length of time, she wants her own clothes. His sleeves are too long for her, and his pants are too narrow. Besides, she doesn't want him to run off to Herba and take the pants she needs with him, effectively grounding her from the Divine Beast. Link seems content that at least she's willing to buy clothes.

She used to have a beautiful snowquill coat, and she asks the shop keeper if making something similar would be possible. It is. But it will take a month. She doesn't that kind of time. Link puts in an order for it anyway, then buys her a snowquill tunic with red lining. It's so wonderfully soft that it makes her want to rub her face against it. When she puts it on, it's warm like a soothing hearth. She makes a note of how much it costs in the back of her journal, where she's keeping track of how much money she owes Link.

He rolls his eyes at her, just as he does every time she makes such a note. He knows better than to argue with her, most likely saving his energy for the moment she shoves a wheelbarrow of rupees at him.

"With the coat and the circlet, you should be good to go."

"The circlet is yours."

"You can have it."

"It's yours."

"I've got the snowquill headpiece. I don't need the circlet."

She stares at him, because that sounds an awful lot like her borrowing his clothes.

"It's a gift," he says. "Do you want me to wrap it for you?"

"That's not necessary."

"I haven't upgraded it as much as I should have," he says. "Because I never use it." Then to himself, he says, "I could probably take care of that tonight and you can have it tomorrow morning."

There's a pair of Rito clearly waiting for them outside the store, although they're both doing a poor job of pretending they're not. Zelda takes the opportunity to end her current conversation, and nudges Link to get his attention.

"Hey, Teba," Link says to a fierce looking Rito with a high crest of white feathers. He greets the green feathered Rito with, "Hey, Amali." She holds her shoulders back and proud, and she has hoops like earrings that frame her face. "We saw your husband at the stable. Did he come home?"

She rolls her eyes, and says tersely, "No. Can you make an announcement saying there's an age limit for the Champion Trials? My daughters all want to do the trials, and they're already fighting each other over it."

Link startles. "Champion Trials?"

"Or whatever you call them. Whatever test you're coming up with to pick the Rito Champion."

Link doesn't respond. He seems so taken aback that he can't move, and the only way Zelda knows he's not having a memory is that every few seconds he blinks.

"Well," Zelda says, "it does make sense that Vah Medoh's pilot must be an adult. But, although we can restore power to the Divine Beast and help the new pilot bond with Vah Medoh, the final decisions on how the pilot is chosen should be left to the Rito."

Teba sounds frustrated as he cuts in. "But surely you have ideas. If you're the expert, you know what trials Revali went through to prove himself. And you know what kind of skills are needed to pilot it."

It seems this is why he's been waiting for them. He wants to know what the trials are. Zelda didn't know there would be trials until a few seconds ago.

"We will think on it and discuss it with Kaneli over dinner," Zelda says. She bows her head in respect and dismissal, takes Link's hand, and moves past the two Rito.

"You have an idea," she hisses as they head down the stairs.

"I have an idea. What time do we have to meet with Kaneli?"

"Sunset."

He narrows his eyes at the sun and calculates. "I think we can make it, but we have to hurry."

Once they're off the main island, they stop and warp to a a shrine just south of the village on the other side of the lake. He rushes through clearing a moblin camp. Then he runs back past the shrine, slowing to squeeze her arm and wipe sweat from his forehead, and then charging off in the other direction to dispatch a hinox more quickly than she thought possible. Zelda stays out of sight near the shrine, but also takes some photos of the nearby ruins.

When he's done, he reappears, handing her a bandana that's supposed to help her climb faster. She stares at him, but he's half turned away from her to strip off his tunic and his undershirt, and so now she's staring in appreciation instead of bafflement. He pulls on a loose-fitting shirt with even shorter sleeves than her red shirt and a baldric covered in carabiners. He brushes his hands over his front to make sure everything's lying flat, then looks up at her, clearly surprised that she's still standing there, stupidly holding his bandana.

"Yes! Yes, of course. Why wouldn't I—Wait. No. We're climbing something? Why are we climbing? Why am I climbing?"

He reaches for her, holds her head in both hands to hold her still, then reaches back, his knuckles brushing the back of her neck as he unknotts her sky blue kerchief. "We need to check the obelisk. It's going to give us the next trials, and then we can adjust those to pick a Rito Champion."

The kerchief comes loose, and he switches with her, and before she can tie up Link's climbing bandana herself, he's fixing it in place. He knots it behind her head instead of under her hair, but she doesn't make a move to stop him. She's enjoying the closeness, even if Link does smell like hinox and boy sweat. She's enjoying the attention, even if it's more attentive to the back of her head than to her.

"Do you think that's appropriate? Giving them your trials?" she asks.

"I'd do them first. And we wouldn't include the shrines." He steps back and turns toward the rise to the south. "But it's more than appropriate. I think it's destiny. I think I'm an idiot for not seeing that this is what we should have done from the beginning."

Zelda frowns, but follows him to the base of the cliff, where he looks up with his hands planted on his hips. "Want to paraglide up?"

"Um..."

He drops to one knee, squeezes his eyes closed, and a burst of wind shoots up around him. It whips at her hair, at the cuffs of her sleeves, and Link grins at her, then pops his paraglider open. He's yanked into the air to hover high over her head. "Come on," he shouts. "It won't last long."

Zelda fumbles open her glider, then shrieks as it's nearly torn from her hand. But she holds on, and when she opens her eyes, they're in the air, Link hovering near her, checking on her, before sailing to the cliffside and finding a handhold. She slams too hard into the cliff face, but manages to get a handhold and haul herself up the last five feet. When they reach a flat surface, she plants her hands on her knees and catches her breath.

Instead of pointing out how much she does not want to climb a mountain, she rubs her forearm where she hit the cliff and asks, "What do you mean destiny?"

"Remember the Goron Blood Brothers? The manly ones? They talked about how Daruk used to train in the lava. And paragliding out into the ocean with just the sun and faith to guide you, that was something Mipha did. These are trials the Champions did."

She shakes her head. "But they didn't. The castle didn't...arrange elaborate trials for Champion contestants. No one told Daruk he had to stand in lava to pilot Vah Rudania. I was involved in the decision making process regarding the Champions. I would know about something like that."

He frowns. "You said there was a selection process."

"There was. But it wasn't this."

"Maybe these are just...things they did that make everyone see them as Champions?"

She studies him a moment. "You're convinced of this."

"Very."

"Well." She straightens, not looking forward to the rest of the climb. "I suppose there wouldn't be anything wrong with using them as a template."

He sighs and smiles at her.

"Within reason," she hurries to add. "I don't know how several Champion candidates could all fight an enormous talus."

"We can find several taluses! Everybody gets one. Points for speed and style. You ready?"

She nods and readies her paraglider once more.

#

There's a wizrobe atop the mountain, and while Link hurries to take care of it, Zelda approaches the obelisk and the Rito troubadour standing nearby.

"Oh! I wasn't expecting to see you there...Zelda."

She doesn't acknowledge the odd emphasis he placed on her name. "I'm surprised to see you here. I would think you'd be with your family." She thinks she's seen Kass' children. She only saw three children at a time, but they kept changing color. She wants to guess there are...seven? Perhaps not all of those were Kass and Amali's. "I think they miss you."

He sighs. "As I miss them. But, sadly, my task is not complete. I must finish my teacher's song."

Link comes up beside her, smelling a bit like ozone.

"I'm working on a song to honor the Champions. My teacher left it unfinished. So I'm here, near my home, to see if I can understand the Champion Revali. Would you like to hear it?"

Link nods, and Kass sings of the three trials towards which the obelisk will point them.

 _One, shoot the flame dragon's horn. Two, race down a peak rings adorn. Three, shoot four targets to win. Champion, the trials begin!_

She can picture all three of the trials. Link is, yet again, right. This is how they're going to choose the next Rito Champion.

#

They barely make it on time for dinner. The sun sets as they explain their plan and receive Kaneli's blessing. By the time the reach the inn, Zelda's arms and shoulders are aching and her eyes itch with exhaustion. She collapses into bed and rubs at a knot in her neck. The bed beside her sags as Link takes a seat beside her.

"Thanks," he says.

"For what?"

"For going along with this plan. I know it doesn't make sense. It just...feels right."

He's staring out the windows a the night sky, his eyes troubled. She reaches up to stroke his cheek. "Something's bothering you."

He shakes his head. "Just not looking forward to Windblight Ganon again."

She hums in sympathy and guides him closer. When he looks down at her, his eyes soften, and he braces a hand over her shoulder to lean down—

a wildberry hits the side of his head.

He blinks in surprise, and looks up at the inn keeper, who is rearranging things on her desk as if she didn't just hurl a fruit at one of her customers.

He raises his eyebrows at the inn keeper, then down at Zelda, who has both hands clamped over her mouth in an attempt to contain her flaming embarrassment.

"I suppose I should go to bed," he says.

She nods, unable to speak. He gives her a soft smile and leans down to press a soft, lingering kiss to her forehead. He receives another wildberry to the head, but it bounces off and doesn't bother him. He murmurs, "Sweet dreams," and it's so warm that her fist clenches in his shirt. She has to take a deep breath before letting him go.

Zelda hates wildberries now. And inns.

She wakes in the morning to a parcel beside her face on her pillow. It's tied with gold ribbon and wrapped in a kerchief of warm Rito fabric with a red patterned edge. Inside is the ruby circlet. It glows brighter than it did yesterday.


	26. Chapter 26 Rito Village

With authority, the Rito insert themselves into Zelda's schedule, demanding an audience with a confidence she hasn't had to contend with in a century. They swoop in, announce they'll meet with her at a specific time, then swoop out before she can explain she's already meeting with someone else. She's booked solid for the next three days.

At least they appreciate making appointments.

It's a little thrilling, if she's being overly honest.

She and Link have a meeting with Teba at the flight range to plan the trial that will take place there. It looks different from how she remembers it: each of the targets glows with a Sheikah eye. Link takes five minutes to sail slowly to the other side of the range, then all of thirty seconds to fall, shoot four of the targets, and complete the trial.

A shrine rises from the shallow water below them, but before they can explore it, Teba wants to discuss the trial for the Champions: the goal, the rules, where spectators will sit. They'll need to build seating. They'll need a large sign to keep score. Decorations are in order. How will they pick the order of the contestants? Where will the contestants wait? Should the contestants be able to watch the progress of other contestants?

When they're done, they have just enough time for Link to touch the slate to the shrine pedestal, leaving without entering, before they have to warp back to Rito Village for a meeting with Cecilia, the carpenter, and Harth, the blacksmith, who have kept the structure of Rito Village in pristine condition. Zelda wants to speak to them about the Great Tabantha Bridge reconstruction. Could it be restored? What would that take? How much manpower? What materials? How much money? Could this be done in partnership with Bolson Construction? Could it be done in partnership with the Gorons? But first she has to talk with them about stadium seating for the Champion trials.

They rush from there to meet with the elder, reporting what they've decided to do for the flight range challenge, what she will need, and how they will allow people to announce their candidacy. What will be needed for that? She suggests her earlier idea for a large sign: write the contestant's names on it when they sign up, then carry it around to the trials and continue to use it to keep score. Something collapsible, like a large banner with a frame. Kaneli nods and suggests a stage-like platform, which they can set up on Revali's landing. From there the candidates can announce themselves, and each can make a speech about their qualifications and what they'll accomplish as Champion!

Zelda doesn't know what to say to that, but Revali would absolutely love it, so she says nothing. She'll make it happen.

"Also decorations," Kaneli says. "Lots of decorations...And perhaps a feast."

She shares a look with Link, but he's so wildly out of his element that he doesn't seem to realize how much of an ask this is.

Zelda says, "We need to discuss a budget."

She rushes down to Verla about cooking for the fest, for which he shows overwhelming excitement, so she gleefully delegates the entirety of that to him. Then she's off to the Brazen Beak to talk to Nekk about banners and streamers and the large sign she has in mind. There's not nearly enough fabric in Rito Village, but if Zelda can procure it, the Nekk and his assistant Huck can make Zelda's wish-list happen. She and Link will need to go to Hateno, but they'll have to do it later, because Teba's son, Tulin, has vanished, upset that he's too young to take part in the trials. Before he left, he said something about how if he fought a talus, everyone would see how great he is. Link has to run off and save him.

"I hope he tries to get that talus we took care of the other day," Links says. He brushes her fingertips, and then he's gone.

Zelda tries to sneak in a very late lunch, but the Cecilia finds her and hands her an invoice for the bleachers at the flight range. Zelda asks her to add a podium for the speeches, and warns that they're going to need seating for the other two trials as well. Then Huck interrupts with a list of fabric to buy, and could maybe Zelda mention to the people in Hateno that they're interested in a long-term trade agreement? Of course! That's thrilling! But also Zelda's not sure how she's going to squeeze that in. Then two of Amali's kids bounce in to ask excited questions about the feast in three days.

Because Verla has announced that the opening feast will be in three days.

#

She's relieved they're heading to the canyon that night to look for the dragon. They've made it clear to everyone that they're busy with trial business all night, so they hopefully won't be interrupted. Link has told her about the nights he's spent camping in the canyon, waiting for the dragon, so she's hopeful that they'll have some time to unwind.

Alone. In the dark. The stars circling overhead. Just the two of them. She revels in the fantasy until twenty minutes after they were supposed to leave.

Link isn't back yet.

Is it bad that she wasn't worried before? No, she was trusting. And either way, she's worried now. She keeps picturing Koko, her thin arms locked tight around Zelda's neck. It makes her sick to her stomach. It makes her vision tunnel, wich is not a good thing to happen when running up and down stairs.

She sets up beside the shrine, going through her notes to distract herself. She's joined by Tulin's parents, Teba and Saki, and they distract each other by discussing preparations for the feast and if Saki's going to announce her candidacy.

She gives her husband a look from the corner of her eye and says, "No."

In a swirl of blue, Link appears at the shrine, and Zelda's on her feet before he's fully reappeared. He has Tulin in a headlock, and the child is flapping and screeching and trying to kick him. He has the slate pressed against the side of Tulin's head, and Link drops him to the ground and let's his parents deal with him.

"You ready?" he shouts over Tulin's renewed screaming. _He almost had that talus! Link ruined everything!_ Zelda grabs her journals and rushes to his side. She's not sure if Link's more eager to get to the dragon or to get away from the Village, but he grabs the back of her tunic in a fist and pulls her close.

It's freezing at the top of Herba tower, and even though the sun hasn't gone down quite yet, the silent snow around them makes everything dim, everything still, as if the sun might rest there for a moment. Link's breath curls hot and visible before his face, so warm that maybe she doesn't need all this protective clothing.

They're in a rush, but the moment waits, it holds its breath, and he just holds her, giving her a look of undeserved adoration.

"We might miss the dragon," she murmurs, and he makes a noise and pulls her into a kiss that's even warmer than his breath.

Against her lips he says, "I like it when you take charge." His breathing is heavy enough for her to feel the expansion of his chest through his thick coat.

He descends on her neck, and she rolls back her head, rolls back her eyes. "I think you're the one taking charge."

"I meant today. With—with the planning."

She laughs and it turns to a gasp as he nuzzles under the high collar of her coat and _sucks_ , sucking her up onto her toes, snagging her from deep in her belly and sucking her closer. He's inhaling her and it's glorious and she wants more more _more_.

When he speaks again it whispers over her tender skin, teasing and gasping and not nearly enough. "You're so _enthusiastic_. And _authoritative_. And there's just—"

He gets distracted.

"I've had practice," she says, even though she's dizzy and words are hard. "You wouldn't believe—how many tournaments I've organized."

"How many?"

"Eight."

"How'd they go?"

"You won five of them."

"Just five?"

"The last three, mmm, I made it my mission to—to—"

She gets distracted.

He pulls back just enough to hear what she has to say. The trail he's left down the side of her neck tingles with cold.

"To what?"

She tries to catch her breath. To focus. "To have you disqualified. On technicalities."

He stares at her for a beat, then a grin spreads across his face. His blue eyes sparkle in the setting sun, his smile endearingly uneven. "That's my girl."

He kisses her through her laugh.

"Do you want to say we missed the dragon?" she asks.

"We'd have to come back tomorrow."

"Mmm." For a moment that sounds perfect. Then she remembers. With a frustrated groan, she pulls back. "The welcoming feast is in three days. We need to see the dragon tonight if we haven't missed it already."

"So responsible," he says. And, once again impressed by her competency, he goes in for another kiss.

She covers his mouth with a hand and pushes him back with a laugh. "Pick this back up in the canyon?" she asks.

He enthusiastically nods.

#

Their hopes are dashed the moment they arrive at the spot on the map, a spot marked by a campfire and a pillar of smoke. Because there's a Rito named Mazli beside the fire, and he's also there to see the dragon. Link gives her a look, but it would be too rude for them to move further down the canyon. And this is the spot where they need to be anyway.

Link unrolls her bedroll and they sit on it together and bake apples on the fire while Mazli tells them everything he's heard about the dragon. Zelda takes copious notes, and every now and then Link leans over and subtly makes a mark next to something she's written. She interprets this to mean that Mazli is incorrect.

Link drapes an arm over her shoulders, and she twists to lean her back against his side. She tries to chart the dragon's nightly movements on her map, and Link shows her blurry pictures that she can't understand. Her eyelids grow heavy. His voice softens, lowers and soothes like a lullaby. He tells her of the first time he me Naydra, covered in malice and whining in pain, how, when the malice shattered around her, she glowed in the night sky, how at the end she held so very very still to give him a scale. He tells her of Farosh who dives in and out of the water of Lake Hylia, and who slides down the Floria waterfalls, so, if you stand on the bridge, you're wrapped in the music of the wind that he whips up.

When Dinraal appears, he's more magnificent than even Link's stories. He's graceful and powerful, and she can hardly breathe for the awe. The dragon doesn't notice her at all. She's too small. Insignificant. And the feeling is relieving. There are forces in the world greater than even the power for which she fought so hard, for which she waited so long, for which she prayed so hard.

Link lifts into the sky on the hot wind that ripples her hair. He lets loose a single arrow, and the dragon's crown of horns lights, like the light of the goddess. It bursts off like a shooting star, and Link follows it down. Across from them a new shrine rises. The dragon continues on its way.

By the time Link returns from collecting the shard of horn and activating the shrine as a warp point, Zelda is asleep and the sky is lightening.

#

It's the day before the opening feast, and Zelda woke up early to get a few hours to herself. She fears with every Rito that passes that they'll want twenty minutes of her time. And she'll agree, because of course she will.

"Zelda?"

She bites back a sigh. She turns to find Amali standing downstairs from her. "Good morning."

Even though the sun hasn't made it all the way into the sky, the Rito is holding a basket of laundry. Amali follows her gaze up to Vah Medoh, then back to Zelda. "Studying the Divine Beast?"

"Yes," Zelda sighs. "Unless I want to climb up every time I visit, I'm going to have to build ladders just to reach the top of the spire. At least I can construct them out of rope this time. It will just take time—time to find materials, time to construct the ladders, time to climb up and attach them to the spire...Perhaps I could construct another elevator? Hmm. It will be easier, since we can use wood, but we won't have the Gorons to help install and run it. And that's just to reach the Divine Beast. We'll need to build more ladders and platforms once we're inside in order to reach all the control units. I can't even see those enough to plan for it yet. And it will most likely all have to wait until the trials are over, which is a bit disappointing, and also makes me worried we're putting the cart before the horse. What if Vah Medoh doesn't turn on? All this will be a waste. Or what if there's a substantial delay and all the excitement drains away?"

Amali frowns up at the Divine Beast. Unexpectedly, she asks, "Are you a descendant of the Champions like Link is?"

Zelda's eyebrows raise. she leaves whatever Link's cover story is alone, and says simply, "No."

Amali shakes her head—a quick, fluttering thing that puffs her feathers. "Only a Champion or one of their descendants can approach Vah Medoh."

"Why is that?"

"The Divine Beast will shoot down anyone else who gets too near."

Zelda bites her lip. A few other Rito have mentioned this. It's the reason at least two of them want to be Champion: they want to see inside Vah Medoh. "I don't want to ignore your people's traditions. I'm sure they're in place for good reasons. To keep your people safe while Vah Medoh was possessed by malice." Or perhaps Revali invented this rule long ago. She smiles at the thought. That seems like something he would do—a grand pronouncement that only he was strong enough to face the Divine Beast.

"But Vah Medoh is powered down now," Zelda says. "Anyone can approach her. And when she's reactivated with a new pilot, the only way the Divine Beast would shoot anyone down would be if the pilot instructed her to do so. There's no science keeping non-Champions away. Only respect."

Amali's face brightens, her head cocking in interest. "Truly?"

"Yes."

Amali looks back at the Divine Beast. Something she's feared since childhood but is no longer a threat. A fact she's known her entire life is no longer true. Zelda can relate. Amali looks down at her laundry. "If you'd give me a moment to put this away...I could fly you up there. You wouldn't need to send your time constructing ladders."

Zelda blinks. "You could? You would?"

Amali looks her straight in the eye, painfully serious. "I can if you swear it won't hurt me."

"I swear it! Thank you! That would be...Oh, that would be tremendously helpful! Even if you can't provide a lift every time we need to visit the Divine Beast, at least I can get a look inside to plan."

Amali looks once more at the Divine Beast, then swallows and narrows her eyes. She rushes past Zelda to drop off her laundry, and Zelda rushes down the stairs to find Link.

She's not sure what she was expecting, but hugging onto Amali's back was not it.

"It's fine," Amali says. She's kneeling on Revali's landing, her back to Zelda, looking over her shoulder. "You look lighter than my daughters."

Link adds, "It's really not hard. Just hold on and don't choke her."

Amali nods.

But they're both clearly nervous. Link keeps rubbing the back of his neck, and adjusting how Zelda's belts lie or the placement of the bow on her back. He's asked her if she has her paraglider four times, and he keeps checking that she's wearing her ruby circlet as if she's taken it off in the last thirty seconds and it's not clearly visible _on her forehead_. Amali is tense, as if she's braced for the Divine Beast to come to life and pluck her from the sky with its great beak. Her eyes keep drifting from Zelda to Vah Medoh.

"Link, find someone else to give you a ride and come with us," Zelda says. She's not concerned for her safety, but their anxiety is making her antsy.

"Teba's already gone to the Flight Range, and everyone else was kind of offended when I asked." He runs his hands from her shoulders to her elbows, reassuring himself that the snowquill coat will work. She grabs his hands and holds them still, forcing him to look at her and her over-abundant confidence.

"I'm fine. We'll be back soon." She pops up on her toes to kiss his cheek, then releases him and steps up to Amali. She hugs her arms around the Rito's neck, pushes through her embarrassment, and squeezes her knees around Amali's sides. Her feathers are stiff and poke at Zelda's face. She's worried she might be pressing them in uncomfortable directions with her knees or her arms, but when Amali stands, Zelda hugs tighter. The Rito's muscles coil beneath her, and then she launches into the air.

Wind whips chilly and damp against Zelda's face. It's so much faster than the paraglider. Amali's wings beat, and Zelda's knees and shoulders and abs move in a completely alien way. The good news is once they're airborne, Zelda is lying down more than hanging from Amali's neck.

They spin upwards around the spire, then catch the wind as they reach the height of Vah Medoh. Amali glides, barely shifting her wings as they circle the Divine Beast.

Zelda shouts over the wind, "There's the warp point on her tail!" And therefore currently unusable, because the way Vah Medoh is perched has her tail practically vertical.

She wasn't expecting Amali to head that way, but she flicks the tips of her wings and rolls to the right, and they're gliding down towards the tail, pulling into a slow circle in front of it.

"Do you see the pedestal?" Zelda shouts.

"Yes."

"If I can touch it with the slate, I'll be able to activate it."

"You'll have to sit up."

Zelda gathers her courage and does so, holding on with only her thighs. If she just thinks of it like riding a horse...

Amali beats her wings once, and Zelda grabs for the straps at the back of her shirt. If she holds on like that with one hand, she can maybe lift the slate with the other, and hopefully she won't drop it...

When they're away from the Divine Beast, they seem to be moving slowly, barely progressing through the air, but as they circle closer and the pedestal comes rushing towards her she almost loses her nerve. She's going to drop the slate. She lets go of Amali and grabs the slate in both hands, clattering it to the pedestal as they rush past, twisting in her seat to hold it there as long as she can, then whipping herself flat against Amali's back before she can fall.

She has no idea if it worked. She sits up again and looks to the Divine Beast just as the warp point lights blue.

"It worked!" Amali calls.

"It worked!" Zelda laughs as they pull into a wider circle around Vah Medoh, preparing for their next target.

#

Amali shows tremendous courage when they enter Vah Medoh and find a landing place on one of the walls. They can't activate the map on a fly-by, but Amali lifts her in her claws and drops her onto the guidance stone, then swoops down to catch her should she fall. Zelda lands with an _oof_ , but doesn't fall, and she's able to reach down to activate the map, which surprisingly works sideways. (There must be a force propelling the liquid other than simply gravity.)

After activating the second control unit in Vah Medoh's wing, Amali is comfortable enough to peer over Zelda's shoulder at the map while they rest and suggest how to reach the next one. She's awed by the inside of the Divine Beast, her voice lowered in reverence. At first she keeps her tail and wings raised so her feathers won't touch the walls.

But the third control unit, Zelda readily hops on and off Amali's back, keeping her seat even as she lifts the slate over her head with both hands.

This is infinitely easier than Vah Ruta or Vah Rudania. She wonders if someone from the Rito tribe will help them activate Vah Noboris.

They activate every control panel save the main control unit, which will need to wait until a Champion is chosen. Finished with their work, they spiral down to where Link is pacing Revali's landing with four of Amali's daughters.

Link jogs up to them, and he drops whatever concerned words he'd bottled up at the sight of her wind burned cheeks and blinding grin, at her excited report that they've activated Vah Medoh in just a matter of hours, as she excitedly pushes the slate into his face to show the images she took.

"Mama!" "Did you really go inside the Divine Beast?" "Will you take us next time?" "Does this mean you're the new Champion?"

Amali grins at them, then spreads her full wingspan to the mid-day sun, closes her eyes, and offers her smile to the sky. "Oh, my babies. Today is a beautiful day."


	27. Chapter 27 Rito Village

Zelda has a dream that she's standing in front of a wall. She's asked Bolson Construction and the Gorons and Harth and Cecelia to build a wall one-hundred feet high around the castle. It looks like the stonework from which the castle itself is made, like the stonework that was once Castle Town. It's a building method that no longer exists.

She stands before the wall that stretches to the sky and stretches out in either direction as far as she can see. She's only aware that the castle is behind it because it's a dream, and she therefore knows these things. It's blank, uneven gray stone without gates or window. She brushes her fingers over a stone, and the whole thing rocks—from the top down. It sways and then collapses on top of her. She feels the blow of every stone and the weight presses her into the ground, flattens her, smashes her.

"Why didn't you use mortar?" she asks. She's enraged. She's distraught.

Link blinks down at her. (Somehow she can see him, even though she's under a pile of stones. It's a dream. It's not real. It makes no sense.) He looks down at her with a concerned crease between his eyebrows and says, "We don't use mortar in the future. Didn't you know that?"

She wakes shaking and gasping, tangled in a sweaty blanket, and Link pulls her into his arms. "Shh. Just a dream, Zelda. It's alright."

For a second, she doesn't want to hug him back.

But it wasn't real. None of that happened.

She grabs his thin undershirt in both fists and buries her face in his neck.

It's been a very long time since she's had a run-of-the-mill anxiety dream. At least she didn't dream that all her teeth fell out. She _hates_ those.

She grips Link tight and forces her breathing to calm.

Even as she settles and Link pulls back to check on her and wipes away tears she didn't know she'd shed, even when he eventually goes back to his own bed before the innkeeper's reprieve at throwing fruit at him runs out, she can't shake the feeling that she's missed something. Something obvious. Something important. She lies awake and tries to figure it out.

#

The opening feast is set on low tables on Revali's landing, stretched in arcs around a round, central podium painted on the side with triangles and oak leaves. Zelda is in charge of writing the contestant's names with a paint brush, black ink, and immaculate handwriting. The Rito take turns strutting to the podium, declaring, "I will take on the trials!" then giving a speech about how great they are. The speeches have mixed success as the Rito have no problem announcing what they think of the contestant, their plans for once they're the Champion, and their fashion choices. When the contestant has finished their speech, they look to Zelda. She stands, writes their name, and everyone cheers.

Several of the contestants she's only met briefly, and she's thankful that Link leans in, looking as if he's whispering a joke or sweet nothings, as he reminds her of their names. There's Mazli, who waited for the dragon and Huck and Verla and Rufflu and Nav. There's Harth, the blacksmith, who receives more cheering than most contestants, and there's Fyson, the shop keeper from Tarrey Town, who receives more heckling than most contestants.

"You don't even live here any more!"

"I am a Rito," he says haughtily, "and since I've _seen_ the world, I am the most qualified to defend against it. Vah Medoh would allow the Slippery Falcon to reach every corner of Hyrule, bringing the glory of the Rito to the world! It is my destiny. I've heard my name called on the wind." He poses dramatically, a wing flung out to the distant horizon.

Except for his mother, who whistles in approval, the rest of the gathered Rito boo. Zelda stands from her meal and writes Fyson's name.

There's a lull before the next contestant announces themselves. There's no set schedule—the contestants declare themselves when they think it will be most dramatic. Zelda's not sure how the meal will ever end.

But now, as the evening gets later, there's a tension in the air, as if they're waiting for something specific. She half expects Kaneli to stand and make a speech or announce his own candidacy. She half expects that Link will stand up and announce that he's not entering. She certainly hopes they aren't expecting her to do anything. Maybe she should say something at the end. Is this the end?

Amali stands from her low table and winds her way forward. Zelda perks in interest. Amali hadn't mentioned entering the trials, but Zelda can't deny that she's excited for her new friend. Amali's back is straight, her head held high.

The audience deflates, a bit of the tension draining away. This is not what they are waiting for.

She steps on to the podium, and the audience quiets.

"I will take on the trials," she announces. "I have been inside Vah Medoh. I braved the beast to help Zelda reach where she could not and activate all but the the last control unit, which will bring Vah Medoh to life. I've seen how glorious she is inside, how wonderful. I will not stand aside to let someone else become her pilot without a fight.

"I've done the calculations," she says, surprising Zelda again by pulling a slip of paper from her pocket. She doesn't hold it up like a visual aid or like evidence, but rather holds it like a talisman. The way her feathers stroke it is almost reverent. "Vah Medoh can make a circuit of Hyrule in three days. She can stop at all the major settlements on a regular schedule, and with that, we can re-open regular trade with even the farthest settlements. Exotic fish from Lurelin. Fabric from Hateno. Gems from Gerudo Town." As she mentions each place, she gestures towards specific people who she knows to be interested in such happenings. "We could transport messages—think of it! Regular communication with every part of Hyrule! We could even transport people. You all know how I've always wanted to see the world, how I want my daughters to see it. I want to experience it—but more than that, I want to help rebuild it, help it thrive. I hear my name called on the wind."

Zelda stares in awe blosoming into hope. This is perfect! This is exceptional! Had Amali been listening to Zelda's prattling about rebuilding Hyrule, or had she come up with this on her own? Vah Medoh traveling in a reliable cycle! Connecting the country once again. Bringing them together, sharing their resources. Mail! Zelda could send _mail_!

"Sure," someone sneers. "Become the Champion and steal Vah Medoh away so you can hunt for your husband."

Zelda whips around so fast that pain lights in her neck, but she can't identify who said such a cruel thing. Everyone is snickering.

Amali's head is still held high. Zelda's is too as she stands are writes Amali's name with more force than she ought.

Amali sits, and the tension in the air is back. It fizzles on a low simmer until, finally, Teba stands up. The Rito's chatter dies, but their feathers are so puffed in excitement that they still make noise. Beside her, Link straightens in interest.

"I will take on the trials," Teba declares. His voice is strong and carrying, and everyone instantly cheers. "I braved the beast while it was in flight! I braved it when it shot from the sky anything it could reach! I braved the wrath of the Divine Beast to help Link reach where he could not and bring Vah Medoh to heel, so she would no longer threaten our skies."

The audience cheers. Zelda's stomach twists.

"I have proven myself worthy once, and I will do so again. Once I'm Champion, I will use Vah Medoh to ensure no one ever again threatens our skies. I've heard my name called on the wind. I will be the next Champion."

The audience explodes in excitement, and it's only when Link touches her arm that she realizes she needs to write Teba's name. Thankfully, everyone is too busy congratulating him to notice her slip-up.

The feast ends soon after. All together, nine Rito enter the competition.

The feast ends, but the Rito are still celebrating and will late into the night.

Zelda grabs Link's elbow the moment everyone seems preoccupied. She drags him downstairs, and keeps dragging him until they're tucked in the alcove before the statue of the goddess. Link picks up that she needs to talk rather than kiss him, and he keeps his distance when she finally pulls to a stop and spins on him.

She has so many questions and doesn't know how to phrase any of them. What's going on with Teba? Why is everyone—even other contestants—cheering for him so hard? Why does this feel so off? Why...just why? What's happening? She doesn't know how to express that there's a gap in her understanding, and she can't see the size or shape of it, but she knows it's there and she knows that Teba's somehow involved.

She finally lands on, "What was that?"

He frowns at her. His words are careful as if he's trying not to set her off. "Which part?"

"The...the cheering!" Which isn't really it. But Link's face clears, and he nods.

"Teba's going to be the next Champion."

"What?"

He shrugs. "He was their best fighter even before he helped me get to the Divine Beast. He's a fast flyer and he's good with a bow. He's a shoe-in for all the trials."

"But he helped us set the rules for the trials! That's practically cheating."

"Only the flight range trial. You can't visit the flight range without Teba being involved. And I pushed back on most of the rules he suggested. Slowed down the time limit."

She vaguely recalls that that's true. "Are you telling me that I organized these trials even though a winner had already been decided upon?"

He shakes his head. "No no no. You see, all the Rito all want to be Champion. If Kaneli just appointed Teba, everyone would be bitter about it. But when Teba tramples over everyone in the trials, they'll all accept him as the best of them. They'll all accept that he's the Champion who beat them fair and square. They can be mad that they lost the tournament instead of mad that Kaneli or Teba didn't give them a chance."

Zelda presses her hands to her cheeks. Here's the mortar she was missing. Here's the hole she didn't know was there.

She's been so stupid!

Link shifts and rubs the back of his neck. "At least...At least I think that's what's happening. I might be wrong?"

She shoots him a glare. Lying to protect her feelings is the opposite of helpful. "You could have mentioned this."

He winces. "You...really want Amali to win, don't you?"

She doesn't answer. She doesn't have to. It's hard to swallow how much her ignorance has set her up for disappointment. But more than that, it's awful to know that she missed such a crucial political component. She's supposed to understand everyone's relationships to one another. She's supposed to know everyone's angle. She used to be so good at that.

And now... she has no idea what's happening. She planned this whole event without realizing what was going on.

She groans and drags her hands up to her hair—an anxious gesture she picked up in childhood. She's startled to find her hair covered by a kerchief. Just as it has been every day for months. Her breathing is short. Her hands start to shake.

"Zelda? Zelda, hey."

He takes her by the elbows. She can feel his hands, but she can't see him. Dark splotches creep around the edges of her vision, when they clear, she's back at the spring of wisdom, standing in freezing water, not knowing what to do.

"Come back to me, Zel. Stay with me."

She blinks. She's still looking into the face of the goddess statue, but it's a different statue. Her brows have smoothed with age, her smile worn. A hand on Zelda's cheek draws her face away. Link is ducked down to look in her eyes, his face filled with worry. He swallows. "I think you need some rest."

He doesn't sound sure that will fix anything.

She's not sure either, but she nods. She needs a glass of water. "Can we..." She clears her throat. "Can we not sleep at the inn tonight? I want—I just—" She has a death grip on his sleeves. "Would that be too—"

"No. No, of course. I don't think they'll miss us. Let's..." He looks to the sky to think, then pulls the slate from her hip. He stares at the map for a long moment, then nods to himself and tucks her tight against his chest. She presses her face to his shoulder and he slips the slate into her hand.

She doesn't know where they're going when they arrive at the shrine near the flight range. Sleeping at the flight range isn't exactly getting away from it all, but she supposes that it will at least be quiet and private with everyone distracted at the village. But Link takes her hand and leads her down a different path, past the flight range and into the cold. It's a thankfully short trek before they arrive at a cabin.

"It's so travelers can prepare before they head into Herba," he says, his voice low, still trying to soothe her nerves. He starts a fire in the hearth, but it's still freezing inside. The wood shelter creeks in the wind. Link pulls out an enormous flame blade and slips it under the bed to warm it, and Zelda takes off her boots and the ruby circlet digging into her scalp. She keeps her coat on and slips under a thick quilt, pulling it up to her ears and curling into a ball. Link follows her a moment later, pulling her back tight to his chest and wrapping his arms around her. He's like a second blanket and she sags into him.

She just...she just needs a moment. It really shouldn't be such a big deal. She's not going to do anything different tomorrow from how she planned it. She just...doesn't understand how the future works.

"Okay?" Link whispers.

She's not sure why she whispers back, except it's nice to have quiet. It's nice to let herself keep slipping into a dream-like state. "Are you asking about this hug or my mental state?"

"Either," he says.

"The hug is nice."

He nods and holds her tighter, pressing a kiss to the top of her hair. "I'm sorry," he says.

"It's not your fault," she says. "It's mine." It's her fault they were locked away for a hundred years. It's her fault the world fell into ruin.

Link holds very still. Then he shifts her, turning her in his arms to face him. She refuses to meet his eyes until he tips up her chin.

"The Calamity was the Calamity's fault."

She can barely breathe. She wants to look away, but can't. She can feel tears welling behind her eyes. "I was talking about the Rito," she lies.

He quirks a smile and rolls his eyes. "Oh. Well." He twists her back around and folds around her back, shielding her from the cold.

Zelda falls asleep listening to the howl of the wind and the crackle of the dancing fire.

#

It's still dark when she wakes in the morning, but she can tell from how clear her head is that she needed the rest. Sometime in the night, she rolled over to wrap her arms around Link's chest and tangle her legs with his. Sometime in the night, she got _too_ warm with the quilt and the fire, and she stripped off her coat. Link must have done the same, because he's down to his undershirt and his favorite soft pants. He's so warm that she snuggles closer, nuzzling into his chest. She can't imagine ever leaving the warm cocoon of this quilt.

Link lazily reaches up to brush her hair from her face. His fingers drift to trace the contours of her ear. It tickles like a shudder that she wants to lean into. She wants to feel it go on and on, building and building. She squirms closer to him, and he wakes more, a tension drawing taut in the muscles under her cheek. She turns to kiss his sternum through his thin shirt, to feel his muscles wind tighter. She works her way up, slowly marking a trail from his chest to his collar bone and up his neck. She makes it even with his jaw before he snaps, pulling her into a kiss that's deep as his devotion and warm as the fire. Hands trail up her back and up her arms as they wrap around his neck. She lets his kisses drown out the rumble of her thoughts, the thrill of his touch overwhelming the buzz of her anxieties.

He rolls on top of her. Her fingers dig into the muscles of his back. She pulls a leg up to hook over his hip, and he grabs her thigh to hold her close, his fingers dimpling her flesh before dragging to find her rear and pull her even closer. Their angle shifts and—ooh!

She arches her back and gasps, and he bites his lip and ducks his head to press his forehead to her shoulder. He's breathing so hard, and yet holding himself so still over her.

"Link." It sounds too much like begging. He makes a noise too close to a whimper and presses the tiniest kiss to her shoulder. It's teasing in all the wrong ways, and she squirms away, which means they rock against one another again, and both end up gasping once more. He clutches at her, one arm tight around her waist, grabbing a fistful of her shirt at her side, one hand tangled with hers against their shared pillow. His fingers clench and unclench and clench again.

She swallows hard. She sends up a prayer, praying he won't reject her at her most vulnerable, he won't tear himself away along with the blanket to leave her freezing and alone. Squeezing his hand, she rolls her hips.

He groans and moves to meet her, and they fall into a rhythm as their kisses turn desperate, and he frantically strokes back her hair from her face and her nails dig into his arm.

"Zelda, I—"

"I know."

"Goddess, the way you move."

She laughs, and it breaks him. He seals his lips so firmly over hers that she can't think. His rhythm falters and his breathing stutters and she's dizzy and weightless and flying until Link sags over her, barely catching himself on his forearm. He's panting and boneless, and she reaches up to brush sweaty bangs from his forehead.

He kisses at her palm, then nuzzles into her hand like a puppy. His words slur when he says, "I'm sorry. That...wasn't the most dignified thing I've ever done."

She snorts.

He smiles, opening his eyes to look at her with so much love it makes her ache, bending to kiss her lightly, tenderly.

"You okay?" he whispers.

"Yes," she says. "I'm...very okay."

He laughs, burying his smile in her hair, his shoulders shaking under her hand.

#

They're an easy walk to the flight range, and they arrive well before anyone else. The festivities must have gone late into the night. They have a fair bit of set up to do, and yet she has everything organized enough that they're almost set up by the time the first Rito trickle in. Harth sails into the flight range to make a slow lap. Mazli keeps pulling back his bow, aiming, then setting it down. Again and again. Harth pulls out his bow then draws and shoots five arrows, one two three four five, all into the same spot on a nearby tree. They all land in a tight pattern except one, which splits one of the previous arrows only to bounce off when it hits the arrowhead. Amali spends a long time getting her children settled in the stands. Zelda wishes she could get some practice time in instead of worrying about her kids, but Link seems even more agitated by it than Zelda. For a moment, she thinks he might walk over and babysit, but then a chorus of whistles and cheers erupts as Teba lands. The girls are distracted enough that Amali can get away and join the other contestants in the lookout hut with Zelda and Link.

Each contestant will make one circle around the flight range, hitting as many targets as possible with a bow and arrow. For each distinct target they hit, they will receive a point. The targets are rigged to emit a puff of colored, chalky powder when struck, making scoring easier. Each contestant has one minute to complete a full circuit of the flight range. Failure to reach the landing pad in that time period will result in a forfeit of any points earned. If the contestant reaches the end with time to spare, they will receive an additional point for every five seconds they have left over.

Rumor has it that Teba can circle the flight range in thirty seconds and still hit all twenty-four targets. Zelda knows better than to put too much stock in rumors. But there's the distinct echo of truth to them that tells her these reports are only slightly exaggerated.

It's intimidating. She is intimidated.

The highest score they possibly expect to see is 30. Zelda expects the vast majority of the contestants will score under ten.

She is correct.

Most of Rufflu's arrows miss, but he doesn't slow down enough to notice, and comes in way under time, at which point he's absolutely shocked to see that his score is so low. Mazli hits eighteen of the targets and lands five seconds too late. Huck hits nine and is right on time. Verla gets an exciting twelve with an added point for being quick. And Nav gets a solid six. Harth is up next, and even though he can feel the weather changing in the wound in his side, and Zelda can see him cringe as he throws himself off the landing, he still gets sixteen targets and lands ten seconds early.

Amali's kids have brought signs: each of them holds a single letter of their mother's name. Cree's A is upside-down. As Amali stands at the launch point, she lifts a blue feather on a necklace to her beak in what might be a kiss or might be a prayer. She stretches her wings, adjusts her grip on her bow, and when the cymbal rings, she's gone, hurtling low into the range, rolling onto her back and firing upward. It doesn't seem like it should work, but it does. The targets puff one after another, _boom boom boom boom boom_ , then a breath as she takes another great stroke of her wings, and then they're exploding again. She's breathtakingly fast, and soars upward at the end, grabbing the landing from below to stop the timer.

She did it in 42 seconds and hit 15 targets. "Three for each of my girls," she gasps. She's breathing so hard her chest sucks in and out abnormally. She blinks like she's forgotten where she is, like she circled the flight range so fast it made her dizzy.

The crowd that heckled her the night before is cheering. They whistle and chant her name, and she has the presence of mind to lift her bow in the air as she goes to take her seat, and the cheering grows like the surge of the tide.

Fyson is next. He does a back flip off the landing, then spins around the range with the fastest time yet. This is primarily because he doesn't take a single shot at a target. He focuses entirely on speed. Link openly scoffs. The crowd boos. At the very end, Fyson hits the target right in front of the landing, which _bangs_ and puffs out a cloud of smoke that makes his acrobatic flip onto the landing that much more spectacular. It's just ridiculous and showy enough that half the crowd whistles for him. He takes an elaborate bow, and ends up with more points than half of the other contestants.

Teba goes last. Because of course he does. Zelda can't even really hold it against him, the crowd is so enthusiastic. He rolls his shoulders and leans to the side, reaching almost to the ground to stretch his side muscles. He holds out his wings, ready for one great stroke, one burst of speed when the gong sounds. The sound and the burst of air hit Zelda at the same time. He hits three targets before leveling off at mid-height. Another flap of his wings, and he pulls into a tight spin that rockets him half way around the range. Arrows burst from him in a spiral, hitting targets so closely together that they sound like firecrackers. Another flap and another spin brings him nearly to the landing, and—as a joke, as a last minute decision—he mimics Fyson's move. He hits the target under the landing and ends his trial by vanishing into the chalk cloud.

The crowd was a constant roar throughout his trial, but as Zelda writes up his score—20 targets in 34 seconds: 25 points to take the lead—the flight range rings with wild enthusiasm. Teba holds up his bow in a surprisingly humble gesture. Before he heads down to the stands, he catches his breath in the relative privacy of the lookout hut with just Zelda and Link as witness. His chest sucks in and out abnormally.

#

AN: Rating Change? Rating Change!


	28. Chapter 28 Rito Village

There's a great deal to do before the second trial, which includes stringing ropes across the canyon and lowering the score board and a gong down a cliff. Luckily the carpenters already have the seating in place on a flat stretch up the side of the cliff, but Zelda still needs to oversee setting up the lanterns and a netting over the stands to protect from wildly shot arrows.

Zelda and Link still haven't found time to enter any of the new shrines that have arisen, but Zelda assumes, since the wait for the dragon won't start until nightfall, that they'll finish their preparations by midday, then have some time for the shrine on the other side of the canyon.

She is mistaken.

Around mid-morning, Misa attempts to lower a whole cart of snacks and caffeinated tea into the canyon. If people are sitting around all night waiting for a dragon to appear at some undetermined point, then that sounds like a business opportunity that Misa will not let go to waste. Three Rito carry the cart down, holding it in their talons and they descend. Someone doesn't move at the same speed or their hold slips. Whatever the reason, the cart tips. Large tins of apple hand pies fall onto the seating, ripping straight through the benches, leaving behind two large holes and a cloud of splinters. The seating must be repaired, and everyone is shouting and everything is covered in tea.

And that's the start of it. As more and more Rito arrive, it becomes clear that they are throwing together a festival of sorts. Someone has pan pipes and someone has a drum. Someone sets up a little stage for a shadow play. They bring firecrackers and a ring toss game and and picnic baskets and cushions on which they recline. They all need Zelda to tell them where to set up.

When everything is ready for the trial, it's an hour before sunset.

Zelda brushes off her hands and turns to Link, who just shakes his head before she can even ask. He looks up at the orange glow of the shrine. "We couldn't finish and get back before everyone arrives. And I don't really want to rush it."

She sighs. "I'm sorry. We'll find time soon."

He rubs the back of his neck, darting looks at her from the corner of his eye. "Unless you want to...go over...and, I don't know, sit around for a while?"

"Sit around for a while?"

His cheeks turn pink. He's still not really looking at her.

A smile blooms slowly over her face, her eyes dancing with mirth.

He's so cute that she can't help but laugh and pop up on her toes to whisper in his ear, "But could we get back before everyone arrives? I don't want to feel rushed."

Even as his face turns a darker shade of red, he turns his head to give her an unamused look that quickly shifts into fierce intention. Her own cheeks turn pink, and she sucks in a breath, realizing that his lips are only an inch away, and her chest is pressed against his arm, and her arm is draped over his chest from where she's bracing herself on his shoulder. His lips part to say something low and enticing that will surely have her following him to wherever he suggests and staying there for far too long and—

From three different directions, three wild berries bounce off the sides of his head. He blinks, and his heated look is gone, replaced with befuddlement, then resignation. Zelda drops back onto her heels. She puts space between them, so she can duck her head and cover a laugh.

He says, "Well, never mind then," and she openly laughs. He reaches out with two fingers to give a flirty tug on the side of her belt, then turns and goes to greet Mazli, who's just arrived.

She grins to herself as she finds something else that needs doing. There's always something that needs doing.

#

Fifty feet in the air, a rope strung with banner-like flags in white and yellow and gold stretches across the canyon. Fifty feet directly above that is another string of flags. They make a kind of square in the air. The starting line. Once the tip of the dragon's tail has crossed the starting line, a cymbal will sound and the Rito can take off from their own starting line directly below on the canyon floor.

The contestants will chase the dragon and with a bow and arrow and shoot the dragon to loosen a scale (5 points), a shard of claw (10 points) or a shard of horn (20 points). They may take multiple shots if their arrow misses the dragon completely. However, once they have struck the dragon, their resulting score is final. They must gather their prize and come to the scoring platform.

No Rito may cross the finish line marked again by two strings of flags hanging in the air a mile down the canyon. But any shot at the dragon that lands past the finish line will be honored as long as the shot was taken in-bounds and the tip of the dragon's tail has not yet crossed over the finish line.

The canyon as the sun sets reminds her of the party in Tarrey Town. No one has any idea when the dragon will arrive and the trial will begin, so they keep one eye to the north and entertain themselves while they wait. After all, it's not like they can possibly miss a big fire dragon flying overhead. Down on the canyon floor, the contestants wait, separate from the festivities, coiled and anxious behind the starting line. Several of them start facing forward, as if ready to pounce, their heads craned to see over their shoulders, waiting for the dragon. Soon they shift, turning their backs to the party to face where the dragon will appear. One by one, they take a seat on the ground. Around midnight, Mazli asks, "Will someone kick me when you see it?" and lies down to take a nap. Zelda sends down tea to keep them awake and warm.

Every now and then, the crowd bursts into a cheer for the contestants, and the contestants turn and wave their gratitude. _Yes, yes. We're still waiting._ Amali's girls still have their AMALI signs, which they pull out ever so often when they run to the edge of the cliff and cheer. Right now, Cree and Genli are standing in the wrong places so it says MAALI. Zelda's glad to see that several of the Rito join in the Amali cheering. After all, she's tied for second with Harth.

If the crowd wasn't as actively joyful as they are, Zelda would die of embarrassment given how poorly this event is timed.

Link keeps looking around, and for a while it seems as if he's much more excited to see the dragon tonight than when he chased the dragon himself. But then she realizes he keeps looking in the wrong direction. The dragon should come from the north. Link keeps checking south and behind them to the west. She frowns a him, and he whispers, "Where is Kass?"

"Look!" Everyone spins, looks up. A red glow writes through the air, rolling through the canyon. Everyone scrambles to the stands, the shadow puppet show abandoned half-way through a story, the music cutting off half-way through a song. Amali's girls are all out of order again, and too excited to organize the chant they've been practicing.

Down at the starting line, the contestants snatch up their bows and jump to their places. They roll their shoulders and stretch their wings, trying to settle their hearts and wake up and focus. Nav wipes the sweating tips of her wings on her pants. Amali slips a necklace from her shirt again, kisses the blue feather there, then tucks it away. Teba clenches and unclenches his hold on his bow, his wings stretched before him, poised for lift-off. Harth adjusts the set of his quiver against his lower back.

The dragon glides overhead, lighting the canyon in a red glow.

The starting gong sounds.

All hell breaks loose.

The pack is tight, as they shoot forward, scramble upward. With every mighty beat of wings, they bump one another and throw currents of wind and dust in each other's faces, knocking one another off course. There's a mad scramble to draft—to ride in someone else's slipstream, dragging them back while exerting the least possible amount of energy. Teba swerves down and the side, pulling into a barrel roll down around the dragon's tail, throwing Rufflu off his back, only to have his maneuver thrown off when he pulls in his wings and drops like a stone to avoid a fireball. The dragon's tail snaps and Harth swoops to avoid it as Fyson soars over it, hits an updraft, and then dives, coming out a full body length in front of Harth. Verla grabs a spike on the dragon's tail as it whips past, he clutches it, riding it like a wild horse, then uses the momentum to propel himself forward. He does it again, grabbing a spike on the first curve of the dragon's serpentine length, but he's falling behind. Several are fall behind. Teba, Harth, Fyson, and Rufflu are in a pack at the front, swirling around one another so no one can use the drafts to their advantage, so if anyone manages to pass anyone else, some third party swoops in for revenge. No one takes the lead for more than a split second. And then their pack blows apart with another rain of fireballs.

The crowd is whistling, roaring, gasping with every near miss and every moment of absurd acrobatics.

Amali repeats her low altitude strategy, gaining ground quickly since she doesn't have to waste time rising to the dragon's height. She avoids the other contestants, but she's at risk of the fireballs that rain down on her. To keep watch for them, she once again flies on her back. She gives a single great beat of her wings when she needs another burst of speed, but otherwise, she keeps her wings tucked tight to her sides so she looks almost like an arrow herself. She reminds Zelda of a swimmer in backstroke.

The pack at the front reaches the dragon's head as the dragon quickly approaches the finish line, as the racing portion of the competition comes swiftly to an end. Those that have fallen behind pull out their bows, aiming for the back claws and missing, firing again and again, and arrows rain down from every direction. The dragon lights in three spots towards the back, and it seems one might be on a claw. The loosened parts fly off and several Rito peel away.

Rufflu pulls back from the pack first, lining up a shot for the dragon's horn, at which point Fyson barrels into him and they both tumble through the air for a long moment, one of their wings striking Teba, disrupting his shot, but only briefly as he swerves, twists, readjusts, and fires. A ball of light bursts from the dragon's horn. Amali is out well ahead of the dragon, and puts on a burst of speed and shoots upward, coming up far too close to the dragon's face and far too close to the finish line. She looses an arrow, then swerves before she sees his horns light, swerves before the dragon can ram through her. She nearly runs into Harth, who has slowed by the dragon's head, lining up his shot, but he has to roll to the side to avoid Amali and then re-align himself. He shoots as the dragon's head crosses the finish line, and has to throw out his wings and back-pedal so he doesn't cross the line himself.

There's a frantic barrage of shots from Fyson and Rufflo, who have fallen back and down, now desperate to get off a shot. They both miss and miss and miss and then Rufflo's arrow strikes home, missing the horn and hitting a common scale. He swears so loud Zelda can hear it from the stands over the shouting of the crowd. Fyson learns from Rufflo's mistake and pulls a quick U-turn, flying at the dragon's oncoming claw as if he intends to ram it. He shoots, the dragon's claw lights, bashes against Fyson's side, sending him into a spin, and then the dragon crosses the finish line with another boom of the gong. Fyson catches himself before he crashes, then adjusts his trajectory to retrieve his shard of claw, unhurried and possibly injured.

The dragon continues on his path, steadily heading down the canyon. Zelda wonders if he even noticed their presence.

The contestants trickle in, cheers rising in waves as each new contestant arrives. They arrange themselves in a line and present their offerings one by one with as much flare as they possibly can given their exhaustion. Mazli, Nav, Rufflo, and Huck have dragon scales. Fyson and Verla have shards of claw. Harth, Amali, and Teba hold shards of horn.

"The standings after the first two trials." Zelda announces in her clear, carrying voice, talking over each new wave of enthusiasm from the crowd. "In first place is Teba with 45 points. Tied for second place are Amali and Harth with 38 points. In fourth place is Verla with 23 points." The front runners have clearly pulled ahead of the rest. Poor Mazli only has five points. There's no way he can possibly win. He does not seem concerned.

Zelda sighs as the crowds shifts back into celebration mode. The music picks back up, while someone rolls out a barrel of rice wine to much cheering. They'll party into the night and then camp out in the canyon before heading home tomorrow.

This tournament isn't going _so_ badly.

Zelda turns ask Link to dance or see if he wants to head back to the Village and pass out from exhaustion, but he's once again frowning up at the cliff behind them. He adjusts his wrist guards, like he does when he's about to throw himself into a new challenge.

No dancing then.

"What are you planning?" she asks. She keeps her voice hushed.

"We have a break tomorrow, right?"

"For the Rito to reach the race course in Herba, yes." The final trial is a race down the Herba mountains—hairpin turns and icy slopes and sharp winds. They tried and failed to find another location closer to the village, so now, even though the Rito can fly, it will take some time for the contestants and spectators to travel there. Also, it's just assumed that most of the Rito will be hung over tomorrow.

Link nods to himself. "I need to finish the shrines," he says. "If you don't want to do them with me, that's fine, but I need to do them. I'm sorry."

"What? Now? Link, it's four in the morning."

"Yeah." He pushes back his bangs. "You should sleep. There are so many people here, I'm sure you'll be safe. You can get a ride with someone back to town tomorrow. Or I can check in with you after I'm done with the first shrine. Or the second."

She takes hold of his elbows to stop his fidgeting. "I meant _you_. It's four in the morning, and _you_ need to sleep."

He shakes his head. "I need to get this done."

"But why?"

He clenches his jaw, his eyes locked on something over her shoulder. She turns to see Teba and his wife sharing a quiet moment, their faces bowed towards each other, their beaks brushing. They're smiling, their son Tulin tucked between them in her arms. Fyson's mother is pruning the feathers on his side, checking for lasting damage from the dragon's claw and fussing over him. He seems softer with his mother—at least when he doesn't know anyone is watching. And then there's Amali, gathering up her tired children. She shifts Cree, who is sound asleep tucked into a sling against her chest and she adjusts Notts's wings, which are wrapped around her neck as the girl dozes off on her back. Kheel rubs her eyes and puts up half a protest about not wanting to go to bed as Amali takes her by the wing tip and guides the whole group of them off to the side to tuck them under one big blanket.

She looks back and shares a look with Link.

She's not entirely sure what he's planning, because what she thinks he's up to doesn't make any sense. But she takes out the slate and wraps an arm around his shoulders, and off they go.

#

"Of course, they're wind themed," she says.

The first shrine has a cannon and a jet of air that will let her shoot a bomb at a breakable wall. She takes care of the wall herself, then hands him the slate and pulls out her sleeping roll (may the Goddess smile on Hetsu). She _could_ fly across a bottomless pit. If she wanted to. But she's tired. She's a little concerned about how tired Link is and his ability to fly across bottomless pit, but she hides it well. He kisses her cheek, pops out his paraglider and takes off.

Zelda closes her eyes. A while later, there's another boom of a bomb, and then a while after that Link is back and she's groggily following him up out of the shrine and then warping to the next one at the bottom of the flight range.

They're in a room with a single switch, and a fan. Predictably, when he shoots the switch with an arrow, it activates a column of wind. He lifts a brow and she follows him up to a huge, cavern-like space with nothing but black emptiness bellow them. In the center is a rotating tower of switches and doorways, and she can spot a complicated series of fans and wind currents dotted around the room, hovering in mid-air.

No, thank you.

She kisses Link's cheek, pats his chest, and heads back down to the entrance, where she snuggles up in her sleep roll and dozes off for several hours. She wakes briefly when he slips into her sleeping roll with her and pulls her close until she's on top of him.

"What time is it?" she mumbles.

"Almost ten." He sounds tired.

"Sleep a while."

"Just resting my eyes a minute."

She snuggles deeper against his chest.

He wakes her up promptly at noon, at which point they're both looking more alert. They head to the finial shrine, which is the best shrine ever.

She has to get a rolling ball through all the complicated movable parts of a tower, using all the slate's runes with precise timing. She clambers up a ladder and chases a ball down a ramp, sweeping metal plates into place and leaping on switches and freezing levers into place. After one failed attempt where she loses the ball into the bottomless pit below, she places Link on the switch and instructs him to stay there while she leaps off the tower after the next ball and sets up some crynis pillars.

And then it's time for Windblight Ganon. Link wrinkles his nose and sticks out his tongue, to show his distaste, and Zelda giggles and he smiles, although it still looks tired. They warp to Rito Village, which is empty as almost everyone has headed up to Herba for the final trial. They spend quite a while scaling the pillar to reach Vah Medoh, and Zelda's immensely relieved that the trial doesn't take over his mind until he's firmly on his feet at the top of the pillar.

His eyes are vacant, his expression lax, as she takes her place before him, holding his forearms to support him and waiting for him to return. The cold wind tugs at his hair, but there's no reaction in his face. It's eerie and disturbing, and she's relieved that she can be here for him, to watch over him when he can't protect himself.

The light notes of an accordion trickle in on the wind, and a smile tugs at her lips that Link did it. Against all logic, he found Kass right where he excepted to find him.

Link comes to with a gasp and a shudder, and suddenly he's gripping her arms and she's holding his weight.

"It's alright," she says. "You're back."

He blinks, then turns towards the music. He squeezes her arm once in thanks, then walks under Vah Medoh's legs to the other side of the pillar with a purpose.

"Oh," Kass says, his song stuttering to a stop. "I didn't hear you—"

Link interrupts, "I'm the chosen hero, and I need your help."

Zelda's mouth falls open in shock. He has never admitted to that, not to anyone who didn't already know, and definitely not using those words.

Kass pulls back, taken by surprise. "I...yes, I suspected as much. I...have a song I'd like to—"

"Save it. Right now you have a different song you need to sing, and you need to sing it in Herba."

Kass' feathers are puffed. "I don't understand."

"Did you know Amali is competing to be the next Rito Champion? Because she is. No one thought she could do it, and she has to do it while she wrangles five kids by herself. This is the last trial, and even though she's doing great, it's eating her up inside that you're not there. It's holding her back. You need to get there for the last trial and show her you're rooting for her."

"I..." Kass bows his head. "My task is not yet complete. I made a vow to my teacher to aid the chosen hero."

"Didn't you also make a vow to your wife?"

Kass says nothing.

"You want to help me?" Link says. "Take the song about Revali you're about to sing for me, and sing it for her. Sing her a love song. Sing her a song about winning a tournament. Lead the audience in some cheers. I don't care. Just get there." He turns to Zelda and holds out a hand for the slate, which she fumbles into his hands. He pulls up the map and makes a mark where the Rito are gathering before the race, showing it to Kass. "Zelda's going to take you here. You go join your family. When the race is over, you can sing me your song. Deal?" Before Kass can agree to this deal, Link turns to Zelda and says, "Take him there, then come right back the the shrine in the village to get me. I think that's the safest plan."

She looks up into his face, all determination and hard lines. It just barely masks the big softie he is underneath. "I thought you were rooting for Teba."

"Yeah, and I don't want you to get him disqualified."

"I'd never!"

He smiles. It's the first one she's seen on him all day, and it's as exhausted as she would expect.

"It just doesn't seem fair," he says, a teasing tone in his voice. "When Fyson loses, he'll get to cry on his mom. Who will Amali cry on?"

Zelda lifts her nose into the air. "No one, because she won't lose. Nothing can stop her now."

He smiles at her, and she turns to Kass. He gives her a terrified look, and when she gets too close, he stumbles back a step, hesitates, then ducks into a low bow. "Your Highness."

She shoves down the discomfort the words bring, and steps forward with a purpose, slipping an arm under his wing and around his back. He fans out his wings to touch her as little as possible. She simply takes the wing over her shoulder and pulls it closer while holding out the slate. "Take hold of this, please." His wing settles gingerly around her, his feathers still puffed with anxiety. When he takes hold of the slate, they warp away.

And into a cave of ice. A few days ago, great columns of ice blocked the entrance, but Link set up a fire and melted enough of them to provide an exit while he cleared the area of monsters. As soon as they land, they can hear the excited chatter of Rito voices. It's another full festival outside with a bonfire and hot beverages and hastily made huts where they'll spend the night. In the morning, most of the crowd will head down to the finish line, where there is seating waiting for them.

There's a sudden, shocked chorus of "Daddy!" and a flurry of pastel feathers as the girls tackle Kass. He barely keeps his feet, sweeping them all into the embrace of his wings. A second later, Amali crashes into them, barrelling into the hug with all the speed she's used over the course of the tournament. This time they do topple over, a cloud of snow puffing around them. She has the whole of her family squeezed tight in her wings, and she's laughing and cooing and crying, and the girls are giggling, and Kass has the softest look on his face. They're a riot of color and squeals, and Zelda smiles to herself as she makes her exit.

She barely gets a breath in when she reforms at the shrine in Rito Village before Link hooks a hand around the back of her neck and hauls her into a kiss. She almost laughs at his enthusiasm, because of course he would take advantage of the empty village and the chance to be close without getting fruit thrown at them. But something about the kiss stops her—the urgency, the pressure, the way it emanates more from his jaw than from his breath. His lips are unyielding. He reaches up to place a hand on her shoulder, as if he's not quite sure what to do with himself. His hands are shaking.

With a sinking feeling, she realizes he might have had reasons other than her safety for sending her warping off to Herba and not paragliding down by herself into a mostly abandoned village. He may have needed a moment alone to collect himself.

"Link?"

He keeps his eyes closed. His brow is furrowed. He shakes his head and kisses her again. It tastes like anguish.

This can't be about confronting Kass. No, this is something else. Something he held in, something he kept bottled up as he lay down the law with his friend. This has to be about Windblight Ganon. Link has been downplaying his dread of the battle for the past week. But why? He beat Windblight Ganon with ease last time. There's something he's not telling her. Something he's keeping to himself because he doesn't think she can handle it.

She soothes her hands over his chest, slides them up to his face, to push him back enough to look at him. "Tell me," she says.

"It's nothing."

"It's not nothing."

He swallows hard and stays silent. His hand is still trembling at the base of her skull.

"I'm here for you," she says, stroking his face. "You can tell me. It'll help."

He takes a deep breath.

"These trials...they give me the equipment that the Champions had."

She blinks. "What?"

"All he had were arrows. Just arrows! He barely had a sword. And he wasn't expecting Windblight Ganon. If I didn't already know what I was in for—"

Comprehension dawns in tandem with horror. "You're reliving their final battles."

He nods in a single jerk. She barely hears him when he says, "They were so unprepared."

He'd seen how Revali died. He'd seen how Daruk, how _Mipha_ died. And, once again, he'd come out alive when they had not.

"Oh, Link."

Her breath comes fast. Her hands are shaking. Is she _crying_? Oh Goddess, she's _crying_. She has to keep it together. This isn't about her, it's about him. He gives her so much and asks for so little—he's not even asking for anything now. She has to hold it together for him. _Be comforting, be comforting, be comforting._

She throws her arms around him and holds him so tight that it locks the trembling away. He clutches at her back, squeezes her so tight she sees spots. _Be comforting, be comforting._ He presses his face into her hair so hard that it's like he's trying to hide.

"I'm so sorry," she soothes. "You shouldn't have to go through that."

"It's fine," he says.

He's so full of it. She holds him tighter.


	29. Chapter 29 Rito Village

Link is subdued that evening at the Rito festivities. He still smiles at everyone, but he turns down several games of hoop-scoop and a few dances with the children and doesn't offer up much commentary on the race predictions or the betting surrounding it. He stays very close to Zelda as she mingles and laughs, standing slightly behind her as if using her as a shield against socializing. He keeps one hand at her waist or the small of her back, as if he'd be lost without touching her, as if he needs reassurance that she's there.

For his benefit, she doesn't mention it. She just continues on, making sure everything is ready for the next day and everyone has what they need for the night and everyone is having fun. Link slips away from her only long enough to find her a beverage and later a flatbread concoction wrapped around marinated fish. There's more music tonight because of Kass' presence. Not only does he play long sets on the accordion, but he coaxes the girls to sing and he invents a rhythmic chant about Amali. The bonfire blazes, and the kids have made snowmen with wings and feathered crests.

Zelda personally encourages every contestant, and listens with nodding interest as everyone debates ad nauseam what will probably happen tomorrow.

There is no way for anyone but Teba, Amali, or Harth to be the Champion. Considering this, if they were doing this tournament with anyone other than the Rito, she would expect all the other contestants to drop out and join the cheering crowd and watch the spectacle. A race between the three real contenders makes the most sense to her.

"But," Nav says, "if Harth and Amali are both disqualified and Verla comes in first, he can get second place overall."

"And fourth place is still wide open!" Kaneli adds.

Whatever the rankings end up being, they Rito are going to brag about it for years. Their grandchildren might very well brag about how their ancestor came in fourth overall.

She listens to the point where she suspects she will dream tonight about standings, and if Rufflu comes in third and Huck comes in 5th and Amali is disqualified... How Harth's side is rumored to be hurting him again after the dragon trial...How for Harth or Amali to become Champion, they not only need to beat Teba, but beat him by at least eight points.

She politely declines placing her own bet, and demurs from claiming a favorite.

"But we know you're not cheering for me."

She turns to see Teba as he steps up beside her, his wings clasped behind his back as he surveys the party.

"Whatever gives you that impression?" she asks.

He briefly looks at her from the corner of his eye. "You don't like me."

"Nonsense," she says. "Link told me how brave and invaluable you were in helping him calm Vah Medoh. His opinion of you is high, and I trust his judgement. And even if I didn't, I'm able to see it myself from your performance so far in the tournament. You would make a worthy and impressive Champion, and, should you win it all tomorrow, I would be honored to work with you in connecting with Vah Medoh."

Link's thumb rubs back and forth against her spine.

"And yet, you'd rather the Champion was someone else," Teba says.

"I'd rather the Champion use their position to help all of Hyrule. But I accept that I have no say over that. Vah Medoh belongs to the Rito and can be used as Rito see fit."

Teba laughs and turns to her for the first time. "You just want _mail_."

"I very much want mail."

"Other people beside Amali can deliver your precious correspondences."

She lifts an eyebrow at him. "I would love to see that."

"You will," he says. "Have no doubt." Then he nods a goodbye to her and a goodbye to Link before rejoining the party.

She turns to Link and beams. He rolls his eyes to hide a smile and tucks his arm around her waist, his chin hooking over her shoulder so she can lean back and whisper into his ear.

"I like Teba," she says.

"You like getting what you want."

"Who doesn't?"

He turns his face, his eyes sparkling in the light of the bonfire, his lips brushing against the corner of her mouth, when something hits Zelda square in the forehead. She looks up in surprised, thinking for a moment that a pebble has fallen off the side of the mountain, but Link's gaze is locked in front of them where Celeila and Harth are doing a bad job of pretending not to watch them. Cecelia is openly eating a handful of berries, hopefully waiting for her next chance to throw something.

Link raises his voice and says, "I don't get it. Why are Teba and Saki allowed to get all googly eyed without people throwing things at them?"

Harth huffs, all the feathers on his head and the back of his neck rising in irritation or embarrassment—honestly, it's still hard for Zelda to tell.

"They're just wildberries," he huffs. "Don't get your feathers ruffled acting like we've been throwing voltfruit at you."

Link thinks on this, then shrugs and lets his weight rest back against Zelda. "I guess that's true."

Cecelia laughs. "What he means to say is that they've already eaten the wildberries, so they're no longer targets."

Link perks at that. It's hard to tell if he's interested in no longer being pelted by projectiles or if he's excited that the answer apparently involves eating.

"What do you mean?" Zelda asks.

"Oh. Well..." Her eyes glide up to the sky and she taps the tips of her wings together, considering how to explain. "It's a bit like...we throw wildberries to tell young couples to...get on with it, I suppose. The best way to make the teasing stop is to snatch a wildberry out of the air before it hits you, make a big show of eating it, then make a big show of kissing your partner. It's _very_ romantic."

Zelda shares a confused look with Link, before turning back to the Rito. "I'm sorry, are you saying that the villagers have been encouraging our relationship? We thought they were warning us to stop. Reminding us we're in public and should...control ourselves."

Link snorts under his breath, but she ignores him.

Harth groans. "They are."

"I don't understand," she says.

"It's like, if you're not going to make a big show and go for it in front of everyone, then you're just wasting everyone's time and need to cut it out."

"Ah."

Cecelia adds, "Every Rito wedding has a wildberry croquembouche at least as tall as the bride. It's common for couples to propose to one another by dumping large quantities of wildberries on each other or leaving wildberries for the other to discover. And, of course, it's always better if all this is done in public as a surprise."

Link shakes his head and asks, "How do you even function with so much drama all the time?"

Zelda hisses at him.

Harth sighs and shifts his hold on his fish. "We make do."

Cecelia says, "It's not our fault that Hylians are mind-numbingly boring."

Link grins, suddenly standing straighter. "Hey. Throw a wildberry at me." He opens his mouth wide as if he intends to catch one. Zelda shoves his chest with her shoulder. In response, he pulls her by the hips tighter against his chest and gives her a look that makes her blush.

Harth doesn't deign to look in their direction. He adds a couple of Cecelia's wildberries to his fish snack. "No."

"Oh, I have some!" Cecelia plucks one up, holding it between two feathers. She aims carefully, and flicks it. Link makes a dive for it, throwing Zelda slightly off balance, but it bounces off his cheek.

"One more try. I got it this time."

Harth says, "I have a durian you can use."

"You do not," Link says.

"There's a rock over there. Try that."

"I thought we were friends."

"Well, you were wrong. Go find somewhere else to flirt. I'm eating." He takes a large bite of his fish snack and Zelda tugs Link away so she can talk to someone else.

#

The race will work as follows: 20 points to first place, 15 to second, and 10 to third. Fourth place will get 6 points, fifth 5, sixth 4, and so on until the last challenger to cross the finish line gets a single point. The side boundaries of the race course are marked by sticks with yellow and gold flags, and anyone who goes off course will forfeit all points in this trial and forfeit their place in the race's rankings.

Except at the finish line, where the contestants have to pass through another square in the air marked by rope and flags, there are no vertical restrictions. If someone wanted to fly thirty feet above everyone else, they are allowed. They might loose precious time lifting into the air, but then again they might make up that time by avoiding the elbowing. Zelda wouldn't be surprised if Amali does that.

There's nowhere to place spectators so they can see both the start and the end, so the stands are set up at the finish line, where the race is sure to be the most exciting and where they can participate most readily in the celebrations immediately following the race. Besides, the finish line is located in a huge ice cave, which is shielded from the wind and therefore feels twenty degrees warmer than the starting line on the face of the mountain, so everyone approves of this arrangement.

Link and Zelda stay at the starting line with the contestants, who are lined up shoulder to shoulder, the tips of their wings stretched before them and creeping as close to the starting line as they can get away with. They will all immediately whack into one another, but all of Zelda's suggestions to have staggered starting positions were firmly rejected.

"Are you ready?" she calls, her voice carrying even in the wind. Distantly, they can hear the crowd cheering from down the mountain. She can almost make out the beat of the chant Kass invented last night. But the contestants are silent, serious, poised to leap. They don't even look over at her.

"On your mark!

"Get set!"

She smashes a mallet against the gong, which rings out down the mountain. The burst of wind that hits her as the Rito take off knocks her back into Link, who grabs her under the arms. The gong tips over with a clatter behind them. Down the mountain, the crowd's cheers intensify.

And the Rito are gone. The slope of the mountain dips so steeply that by the time Zelda's feet are back under her, she's watching them from above, as they shoulder and scrape spaces for themselves, as they fight for enough room to beat their wings to their full extent. For a minute they all overlap, pushing for height to give themselves space, but once they get room, they start to pull apart. Their colors are so bright against the snow that it's easy to see every contestant's position.

Harth has fallen behind. He's still solidly in the middle of the pack, but he's not with the front runners, who pull ahead at a speed that makes her worry for the approaching turns. Teba, Amali, Rufflo, and Fyson. Snow clouds in their wake, blurring the space behind them, getting in the eyes of anyone not fighting beak and claw for the lead. They seem to skim across the ice, their wings pulled so tight that it's hard to tell if they're flying or tobogganing. They hit the first hurdle in the course, a place where the slope falls away and wind rips up the side of the mountain, tossing them higher. They throw out their wings for balance, then tilt and dive before pulling up at the very last moment. All of them hit the slope and skim hard again the snow. They move almost in unison as they all throw out one wing to make a turn in the track.

Link points back to the gap-and-wind obstacle, where Huck has opened his wings too much, caught too much wind. He's thrown off course and disqualified. The main pack thins as Harth pulls ahead and Verla falls behind.

The front runners take another turn, then vanish into the ice cave to a wild ring of whistles. Zelda slips her arm around Link's waist and warps them to the new shrine near the finish line.

It's disorienting to try to make sense of the race from the opposite direction, disorienting as the cheering is so much louder here. It echoes, screaming and whistling and chanting that doubles over itself again and again as it bounces back against the walls. The course widens here, allowing the racers to pick which way to skim around ice columns, which way to ride over the crest of a snow bank. They've split from their uniform movements, and now dart and swerve, glorious in their precision as they wind together, as Rufflo falls behind, and Amali takes the lead and on the next wing beat Teba takes it back. No matter who wins, they are all beautiful, all deserving, their eyes fierce and focused, their wings brilliant.

Zelda is screaming, "Go! Go! Go!" Who she screams for, she doesn't know. All of them. Everyone. _Go_! It's the last stretch and the ice columns fall away. A straight shot to the finish. They can hear Fyson yell as he throws himself forward with one wild push, as he throws off the slipstream air currents, as Teba is sucked backward, his eyes popping wide, as Amali hits the eddies with both wings poised before her, like a diver through the air, and with a last beat, with her neck stretched long, bursts through the finish line. A beak ahead of Fyson. Neck and shoulders ahead of Teba.

The roof shudders from the uproar. Someone sets off a firework that explodes low in the cave in twinkling showers of green. The rest of the racers slip through the finish line, and Zelda only just remembers to stamp the order onto her memory, to rush to the scoreboard and write it all down. The chant is back and louder than before, drumming through the ground as everyone joins, all the Rito united in celebration for their Champion, who rides back towards the crowd, lifted onto the shoulders of the still panting racers. Teba has a wing wrapped around one of her legs, Rufflo holding up a claw, Harth somehow supporting her from behind. They're all wheezing her song.

As they cross back over the finish line, Amali lifts her wings cautiously from Teba and Fyson's shoulders, uncertain she'll keep her balance, then throws out her green wings and throws back her grinning face to present herself to the crowd.

Zelda's laughing and bouncing, and when did she last feel this delighted? Link rushes forward to try to take some of Amali's weight before all the contestants' legs give out beneath them, but he's too short, and the crowd has converged on them anyway. It takes time for the crowd to pull back, a circle around Elder Kaneli, Amali and Kheel perched on her hip. Kaneli takes her free wing and lifts it into the air.

"Rito, I give you your Champion!"

#

They've been to enough parties, and Zelda makes a case that a Hylian presence is not required at this celebration of Rito unity. Instead, they go for a blissfully lazy walk around Lake Totori. Not check list to accomplish. No monsters to fight. They just walk.

Given they have all the time in the world and suddenly no idea what to do with it, they walk with their hands tucked shyly behind them. Every now and then their shoulders brush. Every now and then they catch each other's eye and blush.

It's really quite ridiculous.

She half suspects that Link has a destination in mind. An outcropping with a wonderful view or a secluded cave or a pond with beautiful lilies. But they get more than half way around the lake, and he's yet to turn off the road.

"Link?"

"Hmm?"

She stops, snagging his wrist and pulling him to a halt so he turns to face her. In her most honey-flavored voice she asks, "How many wild berries do you have on you?"

He pulls back, looking skeptical and nervous. "Why?"

"So...you can throw them all at me?" Suddenly she's nervous herself. Oh no. Was that too forward? Is it strange to get food involved? Does he think she's proposing? This is what she gets for trying to be cute!

He rubs the back of his neck. "You really don't—"

"No, I'm sorry. I should never have—"

"—Because I have _a lot_ of wild berries."

She blinks. She narrows her eyes in confusion. "What do you mean? How many?"

"Fifty-eight."

"Fifty— What? Right now?"

"Yeah."

"On you?"

"In my pocket."

"Why are you carrying around that many wildberries? Where did you even find that many? Are you saving them for something?"

"No, I just pick them when I see them growing, or, you know, when people throw them at me."

"You pick them up off the ground after they've bounced off your head?"

"Yeah." He doesn't seem to realize how distasteful that is.

"I'm trying to be seductive, and you're here telling me about how much hoarded food you have in your pockets!"

"You asked!"

"Why are you picking wildberries off the floor!?"

"They grow outside on bushes, Zel. It's not that different."

"Goddess!" She covers her face with her hands.

There's a long, painful pause before Link asks, "Do you still want me to kiss you?"

"No!"

He kicks at the ground and mutters, "Shoot."

They make it another quarter of the way around the lake before she tries again.


	30. Chapter 30 The Tour

Just as with Vah Rudania, the main control unit is on Vah Medoh's back, which at the moment is more like a wall than a floor. Unlike Vah Rudania, the control panel is on top of the bulbous control unit instead of underneath it, so they can reach it simply by standing on top of it. Amali and Zelda land with ease, balancing atop the onion-like structure hundreds of feet in the air.

Harth, curious enough about what's happening and finally convinced that he could approach the Divine Beast without injury (not that he's frightened), agrees to fly Link up as well. Harth acts as if Zelda is twisting his arm and it's a severe inconvenience and indignity for him, but he's the one who suggests giving Link a ride in the first place. Link and Harth hang back on the pointed end, the control unit sloping under their feet. Harth keeps shifting his weight in discomfort.

Zelda kneels by the panel and looks up at her friend. "You remember what we discussed?"

Amali nods. Her eyes are wide in fear in a way she can't control, but she's also been trying to bite down a smile all day.

Zelda nods back and presses the slate to the panel, which lights blue. The control panel flickers to life under their feet, then glows with a steady hum that resonates through the knees of her pants. Blue strings of power swirl up over the slate, brushing against Zelda's hand. They branch and curl and make their way towards Amali like a vine seeking the sun. The Rito's breath catches. Then she sucks in a deep breath, closes her eyes, and lets her wings spread in surrender. The light dances around her, tracing every curve and every feather, lighting the frill on her head and the claws on her feet. Then they dive into her chest, and she gasps, her whole body heaving with the intake of breath. When her eyes pop open, they glow blue for a single heartbeat—a pulse that reverberates through the air all the way to the lake below.

"Oh wow," Amali says. She holds very still, wings still slightly spread.

Now is the tricky part. In her current position, any forward movement of the Divine Beast might cause her to tip from her perch. And fall onto Rito Village. How to begin training while also not causing undue damage in the event of inevitable mistakes, is a problem Zelda has been brainstorming since they arrived.

"I can feel her," Amali says.

"Good. Good."

"Her wings are...stiff."

"Oh?"

Amali closes her eyes and rolls her shoulders. There's a tremble deep under their feet, a dusting of dirt that falls around them, but beyond that Vah Medoh doesn't move. From the corner of her eye, Zelda sees Link's posture change. He's ready to dive for her and warp her to safety.

"Easy," Zelda says. Speaking to Amali or Link or Vah Medoh. She carefully slips the Sheikah slate into her belt. She's not ready to warp. They need to give Amali time.

Amali's eyes are squeezed tight. "I think...I can..."

"Let's not be hasty—"

The tips of Amali's wings flick. Vah Medoh bows forward and Zelda tumbles to the floor as it settles where a floor should be. Link barely misses falling on her. Harth grabs for the tip of the main control unit and rides it upward. For a moment, it seems perfect, everything at the correct angle. But then Vah Medoh tips forward more, overbalancing as Zelda predicted. Link grabs for her, grabs for the slate, but Amali's eyes are still closed a look of concentration on her face, and Zelda catches Link's wrist. _Wait. Just wait._

Vah Medoh's wings move, sweeping through the air like a hulking engine. She lifts from her perch, dives toward the village, spreads her wings and lifts. The air catches them with a jolt and then they're sailing, flying. Amali stands still, her eyes closed and a gentle smile gracing her face.

The great wings beat once around them as they gain altitude, then they even out, pulling into the same circle around Rito Village Vah Medoh has flown for a century.

Zelda squeezes Link's arm, then rises to her feet. Harth drops to the floor beside Amali, unable to decide if he should look at her or at the majesty of what is half parkland half ruin around them.

"Well," Zelda says, trying not to look too flustered. "You picked that up rather quickly."

Amali blinks open her eyes, but still holds herself unnervingly still, as if not trusting herself to move. Slowly she says, "It feels as if there are two of me. In my head. Like I'm controlling two bodies and seeing two images and feeling the wind in two sets of wings." She closes her eyes again, as looking at Zelda while seeing through Vah Medoh's eyes is too difficult.

Zelda steps closer. "Are you alright?"

"Yes. It's just disorienting. Like there's a pressure." She haltingly, tentatively raises a wing and massages her forehead between her eyes. The gesture does not send Vah Medoh into a barrel roll. "It's a lot to hold onto, but it's getting easier. Oh, she is stiff!" Amali puffs her chest and rolls back her shoulders several times in quick succession, looking a bit like she's heaving—no, _stretching_. She shakes her head and opens her eyes again. "I'm sorry, but she has to circle the other direction. This is just..." She rolls her shoulders again, pushing her wings backward. "Ugh!"

"Yes, of course. Do what you need to."

Amali stretches her neck from side to side then frowns when the movement does nothing for Vah Medoh. The ground tilts slightly under them, and the Divine Beast pulls to the right to circle clockwise.

Harth places a hand on Amali's shoulder. "It is the supracoracoideus?"

"Mainly. But there's more going on too. I won't be able to tell until the left wing is loosened. It's like it's locked too low."

"Can you work it out in the air, or should we land and...oil it?" He looks to Zelda, unsure if oiling is an option.

Before Zelda can admit that she has no idea, Amali shakes her head, "Let me stretch a bit more first. See what I can do." Her voice heats suddenly. "Goddess, could you imagine circling in one direction for a century? This is—it's abuse!"

Harth hisses in shared anger. He circles her and presses a wing hard to her sternum. "There?"

"Yes."

"You're circling wide, can you pull it back more?"

Her face pinches and the ground tips to a sharper angle. "Gah, that's unpleasant. She needs some fledgling exercises."

"Pull back and hold it," he orders. "And five, four, three, two, one. Relax."

She does with a sigh, and the ground levels again.

"Two more. You ready?"

"Yes."

Zelda stares at them, then spins on Link. "Vah Medoh and the Rito have the same basic anatomy! That's why this is coming so easily to her. Why it came so easily to Revali. They instinctively know how to fly. If a Hylian or a Zora were the pilot, we'd never get off the ground!"

"Or a Goron," he adds.

"The Gorons!" She bounces on her toes and whips out her journal. "This is why Yunobo is having such trouble! He's trying to control the body of a lizard as if it's his own. I wonder if a lizalfo would be more adept at—but that's not worth considering." She jots down a handful of notes, then looks back up as the floor tilts once more below her feet. She's already stopped noticing. "I'll need to do further research into lizard anatomy. That may help Yunobo, if he's still finding it difficult. Although I don't know where we'll find any information about camels, as they don't apprear naturally in Hyrule. Perhaps we can find another large mammal with a similar gait. I suppose it's possible that some bestiaries that survived in the castle library, and it's possible that Purah or Robbie have something. I suppose there is a silver lining to Vah Ruta's deactivation as elephants are entirely fictional."

Link is giving her a look.

"Do you disagree?" she asks.

"This is an excuse to catch more lizards."

"It is most certainly not!"

They have enough lizards.

#

A week passes so quickly that Zelda more than once falls asleep over a console with a socket wrench in hand and wakes up in a pile of blankets with Link snuggled around her.

They ask Saki, Rito Village's doctor, to come up to Vah Medoh and help with her recuperation. She's clearly flustered by the prospect of setting foot on Vah Medoh, but it's quickly replaced as she's flustered by aiding a patient who she can neither speak to nor touch directly. "I might as well sit here blind folded and have you tell me where it hurts!" She nonetheless throws herself into the problem.

She brings along several anatomy books, and Zelda studies with concentrated vigor in a mad-dash attempt to catch up with everyone else. Luckily, Zelda has exercises for Amali's double vision and the headaches, which Mipha also used to have. As a group, they develop a series of wing exercises to regain Vah Medoh's full range of motion, and they send Link and Harth down a few times to poke around in the wing joints, loosening calcified dirt with a spear. He comes back from one such trip with a half-crushed moblin horn that he pulled from between some gears.

Amali invites her family up, and within a few days they have fully moved in. Link helps the girls hang their hammocks in a nook in what he calls the "ball room," which the family claims for their own. They get a cooking pot and chests full of food. They decorate with blankets and pillows and tapestries and musical instruments and drawings done by the children until it looks just as homey as their hut in the Village.

Zelda helps with the cargo problem of keeping heavy crates from slipping as the Divine Beast moves, keeping them from crushing anyone, from falling from a great height, or from disrupting any valuables inside. She designs a series of large storage containers that fill the floor of the main room. She gets out some of her Goron tools, drills holes in the floor, and installs locks that bolt the crates to the ground. Each crate could be unlocked and removed individually, or they could be opened from above to go through their wares. They start with wood crates, and will consider metal ones when they reach Death Mountain.

As soon as Amali is comfortable with controlling the Divine Beast, and everyone is confident she can handle trickier weather and they won't fall from the sky, Fyson and supplies from the Slippery Falcon become the first cargo. Verla takes a break from the inn to help Zelda turn one of the rooms in Vah Medoh's wing into a kind of passenger quarters, while Fyson stores all his stuff away in one of the crates, intending to restock his store in Tarrey Town.

Then they just have to plan their trip. They decide on a clockwise circuit around Hyrule with their first stop in Goron City. Zelda very much wants to check on Yunobo's progress, and she's eager for the two Champions to meet. Besides which, she's hopeful that the Gorons will not be terrified of Vah Medoh, as they've had their own Divine Beast for a month now. She's not so sure that will be the case with the later stops on their trip. Furthermore, it's a nice, long flight to Eldin, and Amali will have time to work out residual kinks over barren countryside.

Rito Village sees them off with another round of fireworks and far too much confetti. Zelda and Link stay with Amali and the Divine Beast until they're well over the canyon and things are going smoothly. Then they warp to Goron City to warn the Gorons they're coming and search for a suitable landing spot.

#

Bludo was exceptionally glad to see the little Hylian brothers.

Since they left in such a hurry, Yunobo had barely checked in to see how Bludo's back was doing. (It was fine, not that he cared!) The new _Champion_ barely even come into town, claiming he had to "practice his walking," like he was some kind of toddling baby. He spent a week stomping around the northern ridge—which, fine. Who cared? But then the Divine Beast went still and quiet and Bludo thought the young guy would come home and take a break and spend some time socializing. But Yunobo never showed up and then a while later Darunia went back to stomping around again. Turned out he'd spent a bunch of time training with the Blood Brothers, which was...helpful? Bludo didn't get it, but maybe the kid did need to get some toughening up.

Since they'd left, the Gorons in the forge had clearly missed Little Zelda. More than that, they clearly missed having a big old project. They kept talking about the Zora reservoir and how maybe they should go down there and fix it up. They talked about putting up some better bridges out to the Northern Mine. Like getting there was _hard_

Rogaro from the Ripped and Shredded Armor Shop was in a frenzy because all the tourists and travelers coming through wanted protective armor—were willing to spend the money—but they wanted it to be less "big and bulky." Like they _wanted_ to look all thin and scrawny and breakable. Like the shop wasn't called "Ripped and Shredded." But Rogaro kept mentioning how Little Zelda was the first to not want flamebreaker armor and maybe he should have listened instead of getting all defensive. Maybe he needed to...branch out or something? Then he started sending letters down to the stable with the travelers headed that way, and then he vanished for a couple days and showed back up with a secret chest that he wouldn't let anyone see (even Bludo!) until he produced a kind of Hylian outfit that was all thin plates and red fabric with no shape to it. No one could really tell what they were looking at.

And then Bludo had to deal with the Gerudo waaaay too much. They paid good money for gems, but they would get loud so suddenly!

And then Yunobo and his big pet popped up again, ready to somehow use Daruina to help install some bridges at the North Mine _._ What? Bludo hadn't heard anything about that.

"We talked to you about it a few weeks ago. Remember?"

"I remember we decided that was stupid," Bludo said.

"You decided that," Aji said, hefting his stone smasher onto his shoulder. "We're going to build a bridge."

The nerve! These young people had no respect!

But the little Hylian brothers, they knew proper respect. They knew to come to him first and ask after his back. They listened, nodding their heads along, little Zelda taking notes, as he explained how awful the bridges were. And then Rogaro interrupted, carrying in a chest and presenting it to little Zelda with a big old grin that he could take somewhere else if he didn't mind! But the little Hylian just gushed over the clothes, holding them up and clutching them to her chest and bouncing around, grinning and laughing until Rogaro was red in the face.

And then— _then!_ —she told him about how there was _another_ Divine Beast headed their way. The Rito were coming to visit. And was that okay? And where could they park the dang thing? And where was Yunobo, because clearly he was the one they really wanted to talk to.

Bah!

These young people.

#

Everyone in Tarrey Town came out to see the Divine Beast land. They watched it creep in from Death Mountain, first a little speck in the sky, then growing larger. It didn't seem to be moving that fast. It didn't look all that intimidating. Not until it got close.

Then it swooped over the lake, looking for all the world as if it would crash into the side of the cliff. At the last possible second, it pulled up, almost vertical, until it ran out of steam and hung suspended the air, just about to fall—But then it placed its feet neatly on the edge of the cliff and settled. A tremor trickled through the ground. The Divine Beast bowed forward, and didn't move again, even though everyone watched it for a good long while afterwards.

Link and his friend—and let's be clear, she was cute and all, and he was obviously smitten, and good for him and all that, but...well, everyone was growing more and more convinced that she was a bad influence, what with her convincing him it was okay to _invite a giant robot monster that had terrorized the country for a hundred years_.

Link and his friend had warned everyone that the Divine Beast was coming. Coming with new goods from Tabantha. Coming to bring Fyson back, so you knew it had to be safe. Coming with a traveling minstrel, who wanted to write a song about Tarry Town. Coming with and a bunch of Gorons on their way to Zora's Domain, who were excited to see Greyson again and could do with a few beers. Would Greyson or Pelison like to send a letter home? Would anyone like to send a letter home? Because Vah Medoh could deliver it!

Well. It the Divine Beast up and lasered them all, that was on Link's head, and they made sure he knew it. He'd be damned forever and ever and their ghosts would follow him around and make him miserable.

"You got it," he said.

But there were no lasers. And Fyson strode into town, complaining about his mother and "bruised wheat" instead of horrible malice nightmares on the inside of the beast. And then the Gorons kind of did know how to party.

So.

Maybe they wouldn't stop the big bird from coming back next week.

#

For a while after the Calamity, the Zora and the Sheikah had attempted to collaborate. The Sheikah were decimated, with their strongest warriors wiped out in the Calamity's initial attack. The remaining Sheikah were dispersed across the country or had been left behind in Kakarkio—the children and elderly and those whose skill at planting and making clothes outweighed their fighting skills. Lady Impa was a warrior, but she was foremost a scientist, thrust into a leadership role when everyone else died. She never once complained, and Dorephan respected her resolve.

They joined forces in a few campaigns to fight back the stray stalkers that wandered into the Domain or towards Kakariko. The king had even invited the Sheikah to relocate into Zora's Domain so they could fortify together permanently, but it was an offer which was understandably refused. As the monsters became more rampant and the road between their cities more dangerous, their contact had faded. Then there was Vah Ruta's first major aggression against the Domain—where she collapsed a section of the Ruto Precipice, causing an avalanche that knocked out one of the city's pillars—and in the chaos they lost contact with their closest neighbors completely. Some of the Zora elders claimed the Sheikah abandoned them in their time of need, that Hyrule under the Calamity was every group for themselves, but Dorephan chose not to believe that.

With the arrival of Vah Medoh on the cliff by the Veiled Falls, King Dorephan wrote a letter to Lady Impa. It had been many years since he'd seen her. He wondered how much she had changed.

It was the first letter he'd written in years, but as soon as he finished, he penned a letter to Bludo, the boss of the Gorons, thanking him for sending the team of engineers eager to look at the reservoir. Surely such a generous offer of friendship could be repaid in some way. Then he wrote to the Rito Elder, who had also shown such generosity in sending his people to serve all of Hyrule. And such delightful people! He especially enjoyed the charming songs that the Rito children sang, songs that the Zora children now hummed on the promenade. He was especially moved by the ballad about his children.

Dorephan took a moment to let out his shuddering breaths before he resumed his correspondence.

He then wrote to the young Gerudo Chief, a girl he had never met, a leader whose name he had not known until Link provided it to him. He would never be able to see her homeland, but he'd heard it was beautiful. He might never meet the Gerudo Chief, but he wished her the greatest prosperity and hoped they could maintain some level of correspondence.

It had been a long time since he wrote a letter, much less four. It had been a long time since he handed them to a courier for safe delivery. The Rito's eyes softened as she looked down at the rolled scrolls. She held them so delicately. She held them with such reverence. Dorephan was not the only one who recognized the crest on which they stood, ready to sweep forward into a new era. His people were not the only ones who could hear the call of the future. They were not the only ones preparing to unite.


	31. Chapter 31 Kakariko

Impa and her entourage have returned to Kakariko, seeing as there's absolutely no reason for them to remain in Hateno. Impa is irritated that Zelda hasn't checked in very often (or at all really). "But I suppose it's to be expected with how busy you've been. And that terrible business with the Yiga." Zelda nods and takes the excuse.

Impa is pleased with Vah Medoh, who now sits on a hilltop over Kakariko. She's pleased with Zelda's diplomatic inroads with the cultures she's visited so far, although she does keep phrasing her praise in ways that make Zelda intensely uncomfortable. "...how you commanded the Gorons during the construction on Vah Rudania..." "...how you selected the Rito Champion..." "...how you delegated the Gorons to repair the reservoir..." She corrects Impa every time, but it seems Impa believes she's being modest.

Impa is very pleased with the mail system, as it will allow Zelda to stay in contact. And let Link send regular reports on her safety. And let Impa send Zelda guidance. Zelda is proud of how well she hides her cringe. Impa is also glad to receive her letter from King Dorephan, and Zelda accepts that praise gladly. Connecting the leaders of Hyrule is a true accomplishment.

"I have to tell her," Zelda whispers to Link. They're at Enchanted the armor shop, because Link is convinced she needs a cloak, and Claree has slipped into the back room to see if they have anything with a little bit extra embroidery, even though Zelda has expressed that that's completely unnecessary. "I feel miserable for not telling her already. It's like I'm lying to her."

"Then, yeah. Tell her."

"She doesn't deserve to be deceived. She has Hyrule's best interests at heart. And I'm certain at this point that I don't want to be queen. I don't need to be queen!"

"It's true."

"And we've made so much progress without wielding the monarchy like a club. We've already come so far."

"You're doing great."

"Surely she won't be too upset. Not if I'm clear and assertive. My reasoning is sound, and she'll have to accept the logic to it."

Link...doesn't say anything.

They have a grand dinner of stir fry and noodles, of sushi and dumplings, of glazed pears and honey-brittle, and Zelda doesn't explain her intentions to Impa. There are too many people around.

The crowd does not stop Impa from explaining how they must find a way for the Gerudo to fit into New Hyrule, they must find a way to appease the women from the desert. Perhaps Zelda could offer the chief a governorship over the desert province. If tensions are too strained, they could perhaps look into annual tithing to the crown, rather than quarterly, as is proper. At least to start.

Zelda tries to trade a look across the table with Link, but he is pointedly focusing on his noodles, which stretch and stretch from his bowl to his chopsticks.

She takes a deep breath. "Offering to allow Chief Riju governorship over a province her family has ruled for centuries would be beyond insulting. I doubt the Gerudo would be open to further dialogue if that's how we start."

"Of course, child," Impa says. "You must first ingratiate yourself as you have with the other leaders, then work up to these difficult topics. Being queen requires both a delicate touch and a firm hand."

When it comes to Impa, it seems Zelda has neither. So it's for the best that she won't be queen.

Maybe it's also best if she just leaves tomorrow without telling Impa, if she ignores everything Impa has said, and avoids the Sheikah matriarch for the rest of her life.

"I'm afraid that in my old age, I grow tired early," Impa says. "I must retire for the night."

Zelda nods and moves to leave with everyone else. "Of course. We'll see you in the morning."

"Nonsense. You will stay here as my honored guest."

Zelda and Link exchange a look.

"And, Paya," Impa calls, "will you make arrangements for the hero to stay at the inn?"

Zelda's eyes widen, but Link recovers well. "You don't have to do that. I've already got a bed on Vah Medoh."

He says that, but Zelda has no doubt he's going to spend the night on Impa's roof, watching for the Yiga.

It seems Impa has the same idea to avoid uncomfortable conversations, because when Zelda wakes in the morning, it's to find Impa has already set out to speak to Cado, and when Zelda finds Cado, he says Impa has gone to see Rola. Link drops into step next to her, and Zelda makes a cycle of the village, giving up after Rola says Impa has gone to see Olkin.

Link takes her up one of the hills to a grassy space right in front of the shrine, where they can see the whole village stretched out below them, and theoretically they can look for Impa. But if they can't find her before they leave, there's not much to be done about it. Zelda removes her coat so she's just in her red shirt and she can enjoy the sun on her arms. There's an apple tree, from which Link grabs a snack for each of them, and they sit side by side in the grass, watching the delicate movements of the village.

They're due to leave in the afternoon, when they'll warp over to Hateno and announce that Vah Medoh is coming. They should probably land the Divine Beast up at the tech lab. Maybe by the little pond just below it.

Zelda lies back to enjoy the warmth of the sun, to enjoy the heat after so many days in the chill of Vah Medoh. Maybe it's the scenery with the gentle tinkle of wind-chimes, or maybe it's the symbol of their success in the form of the Divine Beast perched across the valley, but it's the most peaceful she's felt in ages.

Link lies down too, resting his head on her belly. She threads her fingers through his hair. He threads their fingers together, extending both their arms out like a starfish in the grass. They stay like that so long, she thinks Link might have fallen asleep, but then he turns his head to nuzzle into her stomach. Her muscles jump as he presses slow kisses through the fabric of her shirt, as he works his way up to brush teasingly against the underside of her breast, then back down to just below her navel. His free hand traces her ribs. It slides down to her hip, where there's a divot in the bone of her pelvis that seems almost made for his thumb.

She closes her eyes and lets a smile rise to her lips. She tugs at his hair and enjoys the moan he lets escape. A fuzzy kind of joy washes over her in shallow waves, something that never pushes into something needy and frantic, rushing to a precipice, hurrying towards an end. She could lie back and enjoy this for hours.

All of a sudden, he licks a thick stripe along the sliver of skin where her shirt has ridden up. She gasps with a sharp spike of pleasure, her back arching, her fingers tightening in his hair, which he most definitely likes, because his grip tightens on her hip and he licks her again.

And there's that frantic feeling. She wants to grab his hair and yank—yank him where? To her mouth? To ruck up her shirt and kiss his way up? To work his way down? Goddess! Any of them. All of them.

She rolls, flipping him onto his back. She throws a leg over his chest and tosses her hair over her shoulder and pins his hand holding hers over his head. He gasps, a sudden tension in his fingers tangled in hers, a sudden tension in his stomach muscles beneath her. It's a tension that breaks as she bends down to take his lower lip between her teeth. His shoulders go slack, his arms go boneless, he lets out a shaky breath as he surrenders completely. She sucks on his lower lip with enthusiasm, enjoying the heated speed of his breathing as his lips try to chase her and his free hand gravitates to her thigh, massaging slowly higher.

A bringing chime strikes the air, and Zelda sits up to look. Paya stands on the front porch of Impa's house, ringing a large triangle, calling everyone in. Link's hand tightens against her thigh, as if he wishes to hold her there, to not let her go. He blinks up at her, then swears in understanding, his head falling back to the ground with a thump. He looks obscene spread under her. His hair out of sorts and his cheeks red. He's trying to catch his breath, but it's not working. His lip is swollen, and she watches him wet it with his tongue, then make a pained face. She reaches up to follow his tongue with her thumb, dragging it over his lip in fascination. He gives a desperate groan. His hips jerk.

It would just be cruel to leave him like this. She can pretend she didn't hear the chime.

She seals her mouth hungrily over his, pressing ever closer. Below them the triangle rings and rings.

#

She thinks they clean up rather well from their aggressive necking. His hair is sorted, and her coat is back on, and they don't look too flushed. Or at least they _would_ look normal if Link would stop sneaking touches like he wants to curl up and snuggle for the rest of the day (which definitely are not making her blush and most definitely aren't making her giggle. She's quite sensible.) They would look innocent if he would quit looking at her with such intensity. _I know what your navel tastes like._ Everyone is going to know. Especially since he's holding his shoulders like he's immensely proud of himself.

On the way down the hill into town, he brushes his fingertips against hers and sneaks three separate kisses to her shoulder.

"Stop that," she giggles. Not that she's giggling.

They slip into Impa's house and pull up short, because there's some sort of meeting happening—which, of course, would be what all the triangle ringing was about.

Impa interrupts herself to demand, "Where have you been?"

"We went to the Great Fairy to upgrade the princess' new clothing," Link says without any hint of deception.

"That is hardly as important as this meeting."

"I wasn't aware we had a meeting scheduled," Zelda says.

"Well, if I could beg a moment from your busy schedule, perhaps you could shed some light on this." Impa holds up a roll of paper, marked with a blue ribbon and a silver wax seal.

"Is King Dorephan's letter surprising in some way?" Zelda asks.

"Aside from the part where he praises your _wise decision_ to not become high queen?"

Ah. Zelda closes her eyes and lets out a deep breath. She keeps her shoulders back and clasps her hands behind her back, prepared to take Impa's tongue lashing.

"In light of this, it's clear you are not prepared to continue your diplomatic tour. You've been too unsupervised." Her eyes narrow in Link's direction at that. "You require guidance. We will return to the original plan of rebuilding Hyrule Castle."

Zelda shakes her head. "There are other infrastructure projects that are in more dire need than the castle. And we can't cut our tour short before we meet the Gerudo. They'll already feel slighted that we're visiting them last, especially with Vah Rudania and Vah Medoh up and running. We at least need to let them know that Vah Medoh is coming."

"We will send a Sheikah delegation. You will oversee the rebuilding of the castle. It's time you returned home."

"Hyrule Castle has not been my home since the moment it became my prison."

Impa ignores her. "Until it is rebuilt, you will live here. Where you can be chaperoned. You're living like a commoner. The clothes you've been wearing! And you vanish without warning or proper escort! I will not have your integrity questioned. You are the princess of Hyrule, and heir to the throne!"

"The monarchy is dead," Zelda snaps. "I am heir to a throne of nothing."

No one breathes.

Impa's face turns red, her eyes wide enough to show white all the way around. She shakes with rage so hard that the tassels on her hat wobble.

Zelda ticks her chin higher.

Impa spits out, "Leave us!" and the Sheikah hustle from the room.

"You too," she snaps, glaring at Link. "Don't think I can't see your influence in this."

Link doesn't move.

After a moment, Zelda looks over her shoulder at him, makes eye contact, and nods. Once. To which he turns on his heel and heads out the door.

Impa scoffs.

For a long moment, they stare at one another, both with narrowed eyes, neither of them relenting.

Finally, Impa closes her eyes and sighs. "I understand that the prospect of ruling must be daunting. You must feel anxious and overwhelmed and alone. But the answer is not to run away and turn your back on your country. The Sheikah are here to support you. To guide you."

Zelda attempts to match Impa's even tone, to match her calmness. Her position is, after all, born of logic rather than emotion. "Yes. The prospect of rebuilding Hyrule is daunting, and I am anxious. But you're wrong. I would never turn my back on my people. And I don't feel alone. I am confident that we can restore Hyrule to its former greatness and more."

Impa's frustration lashes out like a whip. "Then what's all this about abandoning the monarchy?"

"Hyrule has not had a ruling monarch in a century. They will not accept me as their ruler simply because I declare myself their queen."

"You are the princess. You are blessed by the Goddess. You have fought for your people. For a hundred years, you have protected them. You sealed away Calamity Ganon. If that doesn't earn you their respect, then they are fools."

Zelda shakes her head. "For a hundred years, I have been a legend. A rumor. Most of the country believes I'm dead if I ever existed at all."

Again, Impa scoffs.

"Rebuilding the castle and planning my coronation are not the most pressing concerns for the people of Hyrule. They need roads and trade and safety from monsters. They need to believe the Calamity is finally, truly at an end."

"They will know the Calamity is over when they see that the castle is no longer infested with malice, when it is restored to its former glory!"

"We should be rebuilding bridges and settlements. Not a place for me to rule over them."

"No! This is how we will make the people feel safe! With a strong leader rising to the occasion and taking control, they will feel secure. They will know they are looked after. They will know things have returned to normal!"

"Normal for you! No one else remembers! We are in a new time, a new world, and there is a new normal now. A new normal where a monarch is obsolete. I know because I've _spoken_ to my people. I've seen them, and I've listened to them. How am I supposed to rule when I'm out of touch with my people's needs, when I'm working from a rule book from a hundred years ago? They don't need a queen, they need an organizer."

"A queen _is_ an organizer! And the people can't tell you what they need, because they don't know. That's why they need a strong hand to guide them. They need someone wise."

"Wise like me?" Zelda asks. "Because you don't consider me mature enough to arrange my own sleeping situation."

Impa tips her head back and groans.

Again, they fall into silence while Impa closes her eyes and massages her forehead with both hands.

"You're so young," Impa says. Her voice is tired, almost resigned. "And I remember how it feels to be young and in love. As if you're the first person to discover it. But I worry for you. You have so much to lose if you give your heart away."

"I trust Link to keep it safe."

"Yes. I'm sure you do." Impa lifts her eyes and gives Zelda a long look. "He is a sweet boy. Brave and loyal and devoted. And I know the two of you have been through a great deal together."

Zelda nods.

"But with him it is forever. You must understand that. If you change your mind in a year, or two, or ten. If you grow apart. If you grow up. It will be immeasurably painful for you to lose him. And I worry for the future of Hyrule should the two of you be at odds."

Gently, Zelda says, "So you wish to keep us apart? After we've been thrown together by fate and duty and tragedy. Now when we've finally found a way to work together, you want to separate us?"

Obviously frustrated, Impa has nothing to say.

Zelda lets her posture loosen. She steps closer. "I appreciate your loyalty even after all this time. I appreciate everything you've done for Link, and by extension everything you've done for Hyrule by giving him aid. I appreciate that you care for me—I truly do. And more than that, I appreciate how much you care for the people of Hyrule. But, Impa, the world has changed. It hasn't left us behind, although it sometimes feels that way. We must adjust."

"Oh, it's that simple, is it?" Impa spits.

Zelda laughs, even though it's not at all funny. "No," she says. "It's not simple at all."

#

Zelda feels bruised and exhausted as they arrive in Hateno, and she tries to calculate how long they can hide in Link's house before they have to speak to the people in town, and how long that might take so they can get back to Vah Medoh in time. "I'm not even sure who we should speak to first," she says. "Hateno doesn't have a mayor."

"But they have a system for spreading gossip," Link says, squeezing her arm. "Come on."

They head into town and Link plants himself in the middle of the street. He immediately has the attention of three ladies loitering in front of the general store, Manny leaning against the donkey stables, two children, and an older man who considers himself the welcoming committee.

"Hey, everyone," Link says. "We've got news, if you could listen up. Yeah, gather around."

The crowd eases forward. Link gestures for Zelda to take over, and she steps forward and raises her voice.

"For the past few months, we've been taming the Divine Beasts, bringing them back online and uniting them with new Champions. Vah Medoh, the bird Divine Beast, is as we speak making a circuit of Hyrule, connecting the scattered people of the country with goods and correspondences. She will be here later this evening."

The crowd gasps. Manny clasps a hand over his heart. They all look to each other in panic.

Zelda hurries to say, "I assure you there is no danger. The Rito want to make a trade deal: Your fabric for Tabantha wheat."

"If we give them the fabric, will they leave us alone?"

Zelda startles. "Pardon?"

"When will they be here? How long do we have to gather what they want?"

"They...want to trade. They're hardly marauders come to take your resources at sword point."

"Why use a sword when they have lasers? When their mechanical monster could just step on us? Hateno's been safe for a hundred years. Why did you bring them here?"

"Hateno has also been isolated. I swear to you, the Divine Beast comes in peace. There's a young family aboard. A traveling minstrel and five children. They're here to help."

"They said the Divine Beasts were here to help last time, and look how that turned out."

"Yeah," another villager shouts. "They went bad once. They could go bad again."

"They'll take my cattle over my dead body!"

"Yeah!"

"Ready your weapons!"

Link grabs Zelda's arm, pulling her away while the crowd condenses, pulling together to all talk at once. They're discussing weapons. They're discussing hiding.

"We have to stay," she gasps, "make them understand."

One of the women turns to look at them. She narrows her eyes. The grip on her cane tightens.

Link shakes his head and walks faster. "We have to get out of here," he says.

A few more people turn and glare at them, and Zelda's blood runs cold as she agrees. "We need to warn Vah Medoh to change course."


	32. Chapter 32 Lurelin

Zelda is shaking when they arrive back on Vah Medoh, and the sudden burst of cold air turns that shaking into a full-bodied tremor.

"We can't go to Hateno," Link shouts to someone. "Tell Amali to change course. Take us to Lurelin."

The wind cuts off around her as Link guides her inside, and then she's sitting on their bed in the guest quarters.

"Zelda, look at me."

"We have to go back. If we just do a better job explaining it—"

"We can't go back right now."

"We can. I can do it. I can make them see."

"They're not thinking clearly right now. Going back would be dangerous."

"I _need_ this to work! I told Impa I could make this work!"

"Zelda, I need you to breathe."

"I am breathing!"

Her eyes snap to his, and he's kneeling in front of her. His hands are on her face, brushing away tears. She shudders harder and chokes on a sob.

"It's okay. It's okay. Shhh. We'll get through it. Remember when the Zora decided to deactivate Vah Ruto? It was disappointing, but we got through it. Right? You can only help people as much as they let you."

"They know us," she whispers. "They know us. We live there. It's our home."

She has no idea why, but he smiles at her.

"We should warn Purah," she says. "They've never liked the Sheikah being there. They've always been wary. And now they won't let the Divine Beast in at all..."

Link nods, back to being serious. "When you're feeling a little better, I'll slip out and see Symin. Get him to keep an eye on the house."

"You—You think they might do something to the house? Like what? No! They can't! No, they—You have—I have _things_ there!"

"I know you do."

" _You_ have things there! The Champion's weapons and—and that silly shield."

"The koroks gave me that."

"You have all that beautiful dinner ware!"

"You need to breathe, Zelda."

"Stop telling me that!"

Amali strides in, followed closely by Kass, who must have been the one to get her. "What happened?"

Link explains, "The people in Hateno weren't thrilled to hear you were coming."

"Since we're changing course, I assume that's an understatement." Amali tips her head back dramatically as if praying for patience. "Hylians! I guess that's not too unexpected."

Link nods. "The Calamity hit them the worst. They're probably the most afraid of ancient technology."

"And they never had their own Champion or their own Divine Beast to take pride in. They don't have a tragic story to resolve and overcome."

"The Hylians had a tremendous Champion!" Kass says, but everyone agrees that that's beside the point.

Zelda stares out the round window, watching the country roll under them as they head south. "Fort Hateno was the last stand against the guardian army," she whispers. "That's their tragic story. They've built their identity around fear. They've hidden behind their wall for a century." She buries her face in her hands, and Link shifts his grip on her to her knees.

"Well," Amali says after an awkward pause. She straightens, pushing back her shoulders. "So we skip them this round. Maybe the next few rounds too. Eventually they'll see us pass in the distance enough and they'll hear about how great we are, they'll feel left out, realize their mistake, and change their minds."

"But for that," Link says, "they'd need to speak to someone from outside of Hateno."

"Then convince Bolson to visit! Clear out the roads well enough that travelers start wandering in and complaining about why they can't get fabric where they're from and why the general store doesn't have sugar. If it comes to it, you can send Kass into town when he's done in the desert. You can set up a publicity campaign. Remember, you're playing the long game. It's just going to take some time."

Zelda nods without lifting her head from her hands. Yes. Yes, that she can plan for.

Link's hand slips to the back of her neck. It's cool there. "Are you okay for a few minutes?"

"I'm fine," she mumbles.

He clearly doesn't believe her. His is response is a kiss to the top of her kerchief and a "love you," before he stands.

Amali strokes her feathers over Zelda from head to knee, tucking her coat in at the hem, then shifting the ruby circlet peeking out from beneath her kerchief. The grooming is motherly and soothing and heartbreaking, and Zelda does her best not to cry more.

#

When Link gets back from Hateno, it's with a report that he swapped out some of his equipment, snuck some of his nicer home goods up to the tech lab for safe-keeping, and discovered that Symin had already been by, tripped the latch on a window, and relocated Zelda's flowers. Zelda corrects them that they're botany samples, not merely flowers. Link shows pictures of them sitting on the windowsill at the tech lab. They seem to be doing well. He says nothing of the villagers, and she doesn't ask.

When he returns, it's to find her in the middle of a mess of paper spread over the bed, where she's outlining her plan for visiting Lurelin. The problem in Hateno, she hypothesizes, is that they never came in and presented themselves and announced that the Calamity had ended. They assumed too much and moved the process too fast. Even though Link constantly ran errands around town and killed monsters down in the valley, he always did it as a resident, as "Link who lives down by Firly Pond," rather than as a force of reconstruction in a new era.

When they go into Lurelin, even though it is such a small village, they should treat it the same as their diplomatic excursions to greet the far-flung races of Hyrule. They need to say the Calamity is over, and what that means for Lurelin and the rest of the country. Then they need to offer up their services and let the people see that they can be trusted to help and to keep their word.

It would be a mistake to assume that they would automatically go along with the Vah Medoh plan.

They will speak to a single representative or they will speak to the villagers individually rather than addressing a crowd. (Link lowers his head in shame, but she plows ahead. They were both a fault, and whats done is done, and the worst thing at this juncture would be to fail to learn from their errors.) They will win the people of Lurelin over as individuals, a skill with which they have proven themselves more adept than speaking to crowds. (This makes very little sense to Zelda, but she can adapt.) Luckily, Lurelin has a village elder, who also luckily loves gossip about the wider world and loves Link and loves giving Link chores. He seems an excellent place to start.

This will require more time than they had initially planned. Vah Medoh can be over Lurelin in a matter of hours, but _if_ they stop at Lurelin on this cycle, with this plan it won't be for at least a few days. They debate skipping Lurelin and heading straight to Gerudo Town, which is the more important destination. But Zelda worries that if any rumors about Zelda or Vah Medoh make their way to Lurelin, the village may feel slighted that they were skipped. More acutely, she worries that if any rumors make their way to Lurelin, they're likely to be from Hateno, and she would rather preempt lies about machines with canons coming to steal cattle.

Zelda will be damned if they don't win over a single Hylian settlement.

Vah Medoh currently has no passengers save Link and Zelda and no cargo save a thick stack of letters, which can easily wait. Amali waves their concerns away and says they don't mind waiting. They then debate if it's better to land atop Dueling Peaks or circle Hyrule Field. Amali decides it will be more pleasant to circle for a few days. Just a few days. And she wants nightly check-ins.

They warp to Lurelin, where the heat hits heavy and wet, and Zelda is shrugging out of her snowquill coat, and tucking away the ruby circlet and trying to tidy her hair, which immediately frizzes up to twice its usual size. She's sweating instantly, which is not going to make for the best impression. She's distracted in the process of taming her hair into a braid to watch Link tear out of his snowquill tunic. He always changes clothes as if he's in the middle of fighting a horde of monsters. He's shirtless for an annoyingly short amount of time as he bunches up his Champion's tunic with the undershirt still inside it and yanks the whole thing over his head, so there's only a split second where he can't see. He punches his arms through his sleeves, and he's dressed. Ready to run off and do something truly exciting, not willing to waste a second more on boring things like looking presentable.

He still doesn't have his sword on his back, and all his belts are in a pile by his feet, where he could grab them and run if he really needed to. When he sees her quietly braiding her hair, he slows his movements enough to put himself in order. He tugs out all his snowquill braids and yanks his hair into a messy ponytail on top of his head, clamping it into place with a Gerudo clip. She steals his hairband off his wrist and uses it to tie off her braid, which is even more messy than his hair.

He grins at her, and together, they head down to the village.

Elder Rozel is on a dock, perched on a barrel, watching the waves, but he waves a hand and yells, "Link! Haven't seen you in ages."

As if it's an answer, Link says, "This is Zelda."

"Zelda! Well!" Rozel's eyes sparkle as he takes her hand in both of his and nods a bow with a huge grin on his face. "I see!"

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Zelda says, ducking a curtsy, quick and shallow.

"It's _my_ pleasure. Come! Sit, sit. Tell me everything."

Link dives into a dramatic story about Calamity Ganon and the battle with the Divine Beasts. The Divine Beasts. Link is suspiciously absent from his retelling of the battle. Not absent from the story is Zelda, who appears on Hyrule Field and holds back the charging beast with a single spread hand, calling on the power of the Goddess to collapse Ganon into a pinprick of light and seal away his evil.

Zelda burns with embarrassment, and Rozel gives her a sideways look like he doesn't quite believe this story, but he's grinning like he's entertained. It's a good story, regardless of if it's true.

"We can't see the Divine Beasts from here," he says. "But I did hear from Chumin that they shot some lasers or somthin' at the castle a while back. Then they shut themselves off."

"And you noticed there's no more blood moons?" Link says. "That means when you kill the monsters, they stay dead. So me and Zelda are going around, cleaning up the place. I can finally get Aris beach cleaned up for good."

He shots Link a meaningful look. "Well, _that_ would be something worth seeing."

Link nods. "And you've still got that talus over by Gogobi?"

Rozel snorts. "And that night monstrosity by Temto Hill. Not to mention all those water lizalfos."

Zelda pulls out a journal and takes notes. They can just go to the tower and pinpoint what needs to be done, but taking notes shows that they're taking Rozel's concerns seriously. He cranes his neck a bit to see what she's writing, then narrows his eyes and adds. "There's something gross out in the water by Soka Point. And there's some sort of rot on the mighty porgies. And the last big storm took out three rafts. And rumor has it the gambling house is haunted."

All business, she asks, "What is it that's gross by Soka Point?"

He lifts his eyebrows. "A kind of black fluid. Floats on the water."

That doesn't sound good. "And that's where the sick porgy are turning up?"

"No. Those are from the bay here."

"May I see one?"

He looks taken aback. "Why would you want to do that?"

"How else will I figure out what's wrong with them?"

"You a fish doctor?"

"No. But the Zora possess vast amounts of knowledge about such things. If I can give them an accurate description, they may be able to help."

He snorts.

Link grins at her, and she has to admit that this is going well. Or at least better than last time.

"Want to look at some gross water?"

She does. As they walk, she breaks out the lotion she picked up in Zora's Domain to prevent sunburn and smooths it over her face and arms, her ears and the back of her neck and down under the collar of her shirt. Link takes the smallest possible amount and swipes it across his nose, while Zelda takes no chances and rubs it into the backs of her hands.

They head down the coast with Link charging ahead to get every last lizalfo. A few of them figure out what he's up to and decide to just wait out in the water and spit at him occasionally. He shoots arrows at them from the beach, which takes a while, and he keeps asking if he should use the cryonis rune to get out closer.

At the tip of the peninsula, there's a stretch of blackened water about forty-feet wide. It hovers on the surface of the ocean, not moving quite right with the waves. It shimmers with a blue shine if looked at at the right angle. A sharp smell reminds her of the inside of a guidance stone. The sand is dyed a sickly blue-black color. She gets out the slate and takes photos, gets out a vial and carefully takes a sample. The oil hovers over a layer of sea water in the vial. In the small container, it has a bolder hue of blue.

She switches to the magnesis rune, wandering if someone dumped something in the water that's leaking. When she sees nothing, she switches to the stasis rune and straightens.

"There's a guardian in the water."

Link looks in over her shoulder, the outline of a stalker toppled onto its side clear in bright yellow on the screen. Now that she knows it's there, sh can see where one of the arms near the water's surface affects the movement of the waves.

He shakes his head, then looks along the coast with a frown. "There weren't any guardians around here. How did it get here?"

"I don't know. But we should get it out of the water. And scoop out the mess." She lowers the slate to think. "Is there anything we can use as a metallic scoop? Then we can use the magnesis rune to lift it."

He thinks again. "There's a door at the base of the Great Plateau."

"That's hardly helpful."

"I have a big claymore? Wait, do I?" He digs through his pouch, then pulls out one of the biggest swords she's ever seen. "Whew! I kept it. Will this work?" They try it, and it shifts the guardian's legs around a bit, but doesn't move the main mass.

They backtrack down the beach and pick up a metal block from one of the monster camps. Using that, they're able to shove the guardian up onto the beach, with the block only slipping a few times and the guardian only getting stuck in the sand twice.

The guardian's arms still shine silver. The gold scroll work around its body is still visible. It looks fresh, as if it might lift off the beach at any second and focus an eye at them. "It must have only deactivated after Ganon was defeated." She trails her hands over it and finds a gash in its side where a hunk of rock the size of an octorock has broken through its thick plating. The rock has punctured the guardian's internal fuel sack. She can tell just from the smell.

She sits back on her heels. "The fuel is the wrong color," she says. "It's usually a glowing blue—the same substance that's in guidance stones. It's why they light blue when they're activated."

Link says, "They light pink when they're activated."

"Hmm." She looks down at the water. "Perhaps this is what its fuel looks like after a century of malice contagion? Or maybe the sea water has had an effect?"

Link shrugs.

Zelda sketches how she will construct a net to scoop the fuel from the water and store it in a barrel. Perhaps she can take it to Robbie. Or Purah. Thinking of Purah makes her think of Hateno, and she decides to focus on the oil slick.

The sun is starting to set, and they head back down the peninsula, then further along the beach, heading for a cove where there's a cute pond where she can wait while Link dispatches a Stalnox. They're back on Vah Medoh before midnight, but Amali is still furious they waited so long to check in. She uses the phrase "past curfew."

The next day, Zelda takes too many photos of dead fish. They look as though a dark purple mold is splattered over their scales. Four fishermen gather around her to tell her about the fish's strange behavior. They're lethargic and easy to catch. They tend to swim in circles and bump into things. The fishermen cut open one of the fish to show her how the discoloration migrates to its internal organs. Apparently one of the villagers tried to eat one of the fish and got sick, but he didn't eat much, and after a few days of intestinal discomfort, he was back on his feet having sworn off porgy forever.

Zelda uses the stasis rune to peek into the bay, and sure enough, there's a bright yellow spot out by the reef. She and Link take a raft out to investigate. It's another guardian, and they use Link's enormous claymore to pull one of its arms from the water, and—as she expected—it's another fresh one. It's wedged into a reef, which Zelda worries will be damaged further if they try to move it using their metal block.

Back at the village, they check out the haunted gambling house to find that there's a korok on the roof, which Zelda convinces to relocate to a nearby palm tree. Problem solved.

They set out west along the beach, dispatching lizalfos and checking the water for guardians until they get to a serious monster camp spread over a bay. "You don't know how many times I've cleared these guys out," Link says. "They just come back stronger. It's a pain."

The slate tells her that at least three guardian carcasses are tangled in the pillars supporting the monster camp.

Now, one guardian that deactivated and gets washed out to sea to wash up on Soka Point is not suspicious. Two guardians is suspect. Five is something that requires investigation. What on earth are they all doing in the ocean? Did they all walk into the water at the last minute? Did they all fall from a cliff somewhere?

Or did someone dump them there?

She and Link have a meal before he steals a kiss, pulls out his paraglider, and lifts into the air. Zelda sits with her back against a rock and the sun on her face and sketches out plans for a claw arm and pulley system that they can suspend between two rafts. She sketches and calculates late into the night, long after they're back aboard Vah Medoh, long after the rest of the passengers have gone silent. Link breathes slowly and evenly, one arm thrown over her waist, his body curled around her as she sketches, propped on one elbow, her eyes growing more and more itchy with each passing hour.

She's going to figure this out. She's going to save Lurelin from the guardian threat. Goddess help her, she's going to get it right.


	33. Chapter 33 Lurelin

Link wakes up to find her passed out over a notebook with ink staining her cheek so you can see part of the sketch she was working on and read a bit of her backward handwriting. Apparently, this is a bit much, so he makes her eat a big breakfast and then attaches himself to her side.

They spend the day making rafts. Once they show up with enough wood to construct the rafts, the villagers have no problem doing the brunt of the work. Zelda, Armes, and Mubs heave on the end of a rope lashed around two logs, looking for all the world as if they're playing tug-of-war while Numar locks the logs tight together with a complicated knot and Link shoves his weight against the logs to hold them down so they don't flip up and loosen all the knots. They relax, shift around to lash a third log into place, and repeat. When they break for water, she wipes sweat from her brow and asks someone to show her the knot they're using, while Link hands her a bottle filled with water.

Once they have the base rafts finished, Link makes them eat lunch. Mostly he makes her eat lunch, but there are other people around and he's not a monster. But she might be a little bit because she takes the opportunity to pull out her sketches and explain her plans in excruciating detail. She's not sure if Link makes desert because she's not done talking or as a silent apology to Armes, Mubs, and Numar or to try to tempt her to actual touch the food, which she so far hasn't done today.

They saw and carve and hammer together a set of wooden jaws, each as tall as Zelda, and she connects them with a set of hinges that are actually axles from a guardian. They string a set of ropes through a channel on the inside of the jaws, and the fishermen show her how to splice the two ropes together where they meet at the jaw's hinge into a single rope, which when pulled causes the jaws to shut. They run a second set of ropes through a channel on the outside. When pulled, these causes the jaws to open. She paints the two ropes different colors to keep them straight, and though the fishermen make fun of her for it, it's all lighthearted. Laying on their side in the sand, the jaws work shockingly well, if she does say so herself.

It's too late to do more on the rafts, but she suggests Link go off and fight his talus while she and a few of the villagers go clean up the spilled fuel. He simply blinks at her, then shouts over to Kiana, "Hey, do you have an empty barrel we can use?" She does, so they head out to Soka Point with an empty barrel and a bunch of deep shields which they use to scoop the fuel from the water. They all take off their boots and roll up their pants and try to stay clean as possible while ferrying shallow collections of fuel up the beach and pour them into the barrel. as soon as they clean a sizale portion, Link takes the opportunity to splash water at her, and she splutters at the cold and the salty taste. By the time they're done, her hands are dyed blue in a way that's achingly familiar, and Link has a distinct line across his shins from how far he waded into the water. Kiana and Garinin stretch their backs and approve the now clear water. They show Zelda how to seal the barrel closed, and Link takes over rolling it back to the village.

When Vah Medoh falls quiet around them, the last of the accordion music trailing away, Link shifts. She can feel him looking over at her even though it's dark.

"What?" she whispers.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, of course."

"You've just been very...focused."

"We have to get those guardians out of the water, and we're on a deadline."

He's quiet a moment, during which she thinks he might believe her and go to sleep. Then he says, "I can almost hear all the gears in your brain going a hundred miles an hour."

She sighs. "I'm going to need to weigh down the jaws if they're to sink into the water. And since we didn't pick stones to act as weights today, we'll need to do that first thing tomorrow, because we'll need to carve out spots to wedge them into so they don't come loose, and I'm worried about time and if the wood of the jaws is thick enough to accommodate that, and there's always the possibility the wood will just split or this will weaken them. And then what if the added weight makes them too heavy for the scaffolding? I had to guess on the calc—"

"You know I like to hear you talk, right?"

"I...yes?"

"Good. Because I'm going to kiss you now to make you stop, but that doesn't change that I usually really like it. Clear?"

"...Okay."

When he leans in, his lips are off-center in the dark, hitting her chin more than her lips, but it's enough to make her giggle. The kiss is easily corrected.

When the sun rises, she opens her eyes to find strange, pale streaks of blue across Link's shirt. She squints at them, trying to place where she's seen the color before and whether or not they were there last night and—She gasps and jerks away from him, startling him into sitting bolt upright and fumbling for his sword. "What!" She has her mouth covered in horror, but rips her hands from her face when she realizes what she's doing.

"I'm sorry!"

"What?"

"Your shirt!"

"What?" He looks down at it and blinks a few times, just as confused as she was a few seconds ago. The answer doesn't come to him, and he looks up at her in bewilderment.

Bashfully, she holds out her hands for him to see. They're not as blue as they were yesterday. Probably because she rubbed them clean all over Link's chest.

He looks her straight in the eye for a moment, then snorts and tilts his head to the side. "Is it on my neck?"

She leans in to check. "A little bit? Oh Goddesses. I swear I tried to scrub them clean! I washed them four times!" She wants to hide her face in her hands, but that would be a bad idea, so she pitches forward and hides her face in their pillow.

He shifts beside her and leans down to whisper in her ear. "Zel."

"Mmf."

"It's...kinda hot." He bites her earlobe, and she jerks out of bed. He laughs at her and finds himself a fresh shirt.

#

They fit a pair of rocks easily into the jaws, and the next step is to make the scaffold between two of the rafts. The jaws will hang from the scaffolding, down between the rafts. By now most of the village has come out to watch or help. It's a full-town effort to haul the scaffold upright and hold it in place until they can get it secured. Zelda reuses the design for the pulley on the elevator from Vah Rudania, glad that she has the design to utilize, because the jaws are so heavy now, a pulley is a most definite necessity. The scaffolding creaks over their heads as the jaws lift from the sand, but the overhead beams don't snap or sag under the weight, and she breathes a sigh of relief that her estimated weight calculations were acceptable. Two of the three rafts get sails, which again requires the whole village to prop up the masts.

They set out like a small armada, Zelda and Link in one of several long canoes around the floating crane, the third raft toed along behind. A fair-sized crowd watches from the shore, cheering as the crane proves sea-worthy, though cumbersome. It takes an hour with two fishermen waving korok leaves to get over the reef and then over the guardian. The fishermen don't quite work in tandem, so the crane keeps listing to the side or spinning slowly. It's a bit of a mess that could do with some leadership, but Zelda doesn't feel like she ought to tell these men how to propel their rafts.

When they're finally in position, Zelda takes up the ropes to control the jaws. She pulls them open and holds them open as Armes dives into the water to guide the jaws down. Mubs unlocks the pulley and slowly lowers the jaws until they sink beneath the waves. Armes takes a series of huffing breaths to fill his lungs, then plunges down.

A sharp tug and they stop lowering the jaws. A second tug and Zelda releases the rope to open the jaws, handing it off to Link, then pulls as hard as she can on the closing rope. A wave hits them wrong and the crane starts to twist again, and it takes several minutes to get back in position. Then they're ready to lift, Zelda pulling the closing rope tight the whole way up. They have to heave the guardian out of the reef, the scaffolding creaking as three men haul on the raising rope. the guardian jerks free with a crunch she can feel in her chest, all the ropes for a horrifying second going slack. Link grabs onto the closing rope with her, his arms around her, catching the rope as it slips against her sweaty palms, catching it as the sudden force threatens to jerk her into the water, threatens to topple their canoe. But then they settle. The rafts are twisting again, but it no longer matters. The jaws splash their way from the surface, the wood darkened from the wet, seawater running in streams through the channels. Then the guardian appears, twisted on its side, cumbersome as if even the huge jaws aren't big enough to hold it. Even as the whole central body is lifted from the water, its arms still drag, trailing down into the depths. Even covered in water and dangling, it still looks like it might come to life at any second.

They lock the pulley in place, and Zelda ties off the closing rope, using one of the new knots she's learned and a cleat on the closest raft. They drag the third raft that they towed out with them, pushing it into place with oars and feet. It slides perfectly into the space between the two crane rafts. Zelda reaches out with an oar to lift one of the dangling arms and rearrange it out of the water. But the fishermen just step onto the raft, grab up the arms like bulky coils of rope and drop them aboard. With the raft in place and the guardian out of the water they lower the jaws, then open them. They tie the third raft into place and make their way back to land.

Link grins at her, then paddles them along after the guardian. The newly formed raft is even more cumbersome than before, and they decide to ride with the current rather than try to get back to the beach from which they launched. The crowd from the shore just shifts down the beach to greet them, to gather around the guardian. The moment they're beached onto the sand, Zelda stumbles out of the canoe and runs up to the guardian.

The outer shielding is intact, and she can tell the fuel hasn't leaked, like the one by Soka Point. But if she slips under a couple of arms to get a good look at its underbelly where its shielding is thinner, she can see the pockmarks where rocks or the reef have beaten against it and exposed some of the tube-like wires which are now frayed and tangled.

"The fish have nibbled on those," says Mubs from over her shoulder.

"The porgy?" Zelda asks.

Mubs nods. "Probably. The porgy grind their food. They like eating the crabs. Getting to the meat on the inside." She gestures to the wires inside the hard shell of the guardian.

Zelda sighs and sits back on her heels. "Well. The good news is that we seem to have solved your porgy problem. At least for now. The bad news, however, is that there are three more guardians in the water by Aris beach that will need to be removed if we don't want a repeat of this. And I don't know how many more will wash up if we don't find out where they're coming from."

They sit down with the slate and a set of charts and plot out the currents that could have washed the guardians in. They seem to be coming from somewhere to the north, along the edge of the continent. How far it's hard to say. Her eyes lock on Hateno beach, right in the current's path.

She doesn't want to think about it.

"You know," Link tells Rozel, "Vah Medoh could haul these guardians and the fuel away for you. And you could send along some fish to sell in Gerudo Town or Rito Village."

The elder shakes his head. "We just pulled a bunch of Sheikah tech out of the ocean and you want to bring more in? No, thank you. I don't care if that giant bird of yours is carrying free diamonds. I don't want it here."

Zelda's heart sinks. The sun is setting, and it's time for them to go.

But Link just shrugs and says, "Okay, but you're missing out on all the diamonds." He adjusts his arm guards and checks that he's got all his equipment, as Zelda checks hat she has all of hers. She stands and pats the side of the guardian, and he slips an arm around her shoulders and guides her away. He calls over his shoulder, "We'll see you around!"

"It was a pleasure meeting you," Zelda calls, threading her fingers through Link's and slipping and arm around his waist. He smells like salt water and too much sun. It's comforting against her disappointment.

"Hey! Wait!" Rozel shouts. "I don't want any part of your giant bird monster, so you're just going to _leave_?"

They pause enough to look back at him. They trade a look with each other. "Well, yeah, kinda."

"We've done all we can do for you for now," Zelda says. "We'll investigate the beaches to the north soon, and we'll be back in the next few months or so." She looks up at Link to check that that timeline is correct.

"I don't know," he says, and she catches a sparkle in his eye. "Lurelin's not really on our route."

"If you hear anything about who's dropping the guardians in the water, let us know. Oh." She bites her lip. "I'm not quite sure the best way to contact us. Perhaps if you sent a messenger up to Kakariko?"

"That's like a five day trip," Link says.

"Hmmm. I suppose the good news is that it's really not that dire a situation."

"Yeah, just some sick porgy."

"Hey!" Rozel shouts.

"Well, we'll be back in the next few months," Zelda says. She lifts her and Link's joined hands to wave. "See you soon."

They walk another six steps before Numar hisses something and Rozel cracks. "Fine! Bring in your damned bird and your damned mail! But take these guardians away while you're at it."

Zelda's sure that she and Link both look far too smug.

#

"You look tired," he says. They're walking out of the village to get some privacy before warping.

"I am tired." She leans heavily against his shoulder. "Carry me."

Of course, she's not serious. And she doesn't expect him to do anything other than nudge her into walking further or possibly warp them from here. But he ducks down and slips an arm around the back of her knees, and her heart swells until he braces his shoulder against her stomach and hefts her up, throwing her over his shoulder. She shrieks, and suddenly she's upside-down and Link is striding off again.

She tenses until she's sure of her balance, then relaxes and says, "This is not what I had in mind."

He laughs. "What? You wanted me to sweep you off your feet like a princess and romantically carry you off into the sunset?"

"Technically, yes, that is exactly what I asked you to do."

"And technically, that's exactly what I'm doing."

She wedges her elbows between them to prop her head on her arms and see something other than Link's back. "I'd hardly call this romantic."

"You wouldn't? You're tired, and I'm carrying you even though I'm tired too. I'm a catch."

"This is like you're going to drag me off to your cave and grunt at me."

He shifts the hand keeping her steady around her waist, moving it to her rear and squeezing slightly. He does it as if she'll think it's not on purpose, like the yawns the soldiers used to fake to get their arms around their girlfriends. She rolls her eyes ad grins and says nothing. She lets him walk.

And walk. And walk.

"Where are we going?! We don't need to walk this far to warp. We don't need to walk anywhere to warp."

"Just enjoying the scenery," he says. "You want to stop?"

She thinks for a moment, because it is kind of nice like this, then says, "Yes."

He sets her back on her feet, and when he stands once more, he takes a half step forward, drawing her in at the hip until they're pressed close. She shifts her stance so the inside of her leg presses against the outside of his and they're connected from calf to chest. He closes his eyes and breathes through his nose, and when she shifts closer to press a kiss to his neck, she can feel the vibration of his silent groan in every place they're connected.

She stretches up to whisper low in his ear, "I love you even though you felt the need to grab my butt."

He nips at her ear and she squeaks. "I like your butt," he whispers back, and the words rumble all the way down her spine.


	34. Chapter 34 Gerudo Town

When they warp to Gerudo Town, instead of heading straight for the city, Link ducks into the shrine entrance and strips off all his clothes. Zelda is looking forward to when Vah Medoh can land before they disembark, so they don't have to arrive in the desert dressed for excessive cold.

Luckily, all she has to do is remove her coat and switch from the ruby circlet to the sapphire one Link has gifted her. This one looks sillier poking out from under her kerchief, but someday soon her hair will be reasonable, and until then she'll make it work. She squints out at the desert as she waits for Link. It seems so vast with the mountains so far in the distance and the air so thin, and yet everything fades into a haze not too far away.

"No being judgy," Link says.

"Judgy? About what, the deser—" She turns to frown at him, but cuts herself off when she sees that he's wearing pants she's never seen before. Instead of barreling through getting dressed, he's holding a shirt she's also never seen in his hands. It's silk. He gives her a very pointed look, then pulls the shirt over his head, which takes some maneuvering as putting on the sleeves is more complicated than he's used to. It wraps around his chest, leaving his stomach bare, and the long sleeves billow and attach to his fingers. With another narrowed-eyed look, he slips on the veil.

She blinks at him. "I had assumed they had relaxed their restrictions on who could enter Gerudo Town."

"Nope."

She looks him up and down. "Those pants don't match."

His posture slumps. "I know! I thought about dying them, but I never got around to it."

"And they just let you walk in like that?"

"Yeah. I think it's like...if I'm willing to wear the outfit, they assume I'm not a macho asshole, so I'm good to go. Plus, telling a stranger they look like a man is super rude. Although, you know, some of the Gerudo will say it anyway. Most of the guys that hang around the bazaar or outside the walls just stomp around all entitled, complaining about how they're not allowed in. They guess gross stuff about what the ladies might be doing inside and then they go, 'Women! Amiright?' As long as I don't do any of that, they don't care."

That...sounds about right.

"You're not going to do a high-pitched voice, are you?" she asks.

His eyebrows furrow. "Why would I do that?"

She shakes her head. "Are you ready?"

They walk straight into town, Link walking as if he's done it a thousand times. The guards don't give them a second look.

Gerudo Town looks remarkably similar to the bustling metropolis it was before—bright colors and sweet smells. There's music and laughter and commerce and art. Her eyes fall on a wind chime of colored glass that sends spots of red and orange light across the street. Her first thought is to get it for Urbosa. Her knees nearly give out when she remembers, and she rips her attention back to where she's walking. She fights through the light-headedness and anchors herself to the present by snagging hold of Link's sleeve. She was never here with Link Before.

He guides them through the crowds, heading straight up to the palace. He waves at the guards who don't bother to stop him, but also don't greet him with any enthusiasm. It's cooler inside the palace, and there's the familiar sound of running water over sandstone. Suddenly, they're in the throne room, and Zelda's head is spinning.

All the grandeur once held by her home in the castle has been ripped away. Everything is tarnished and crumbled and dirty and faded. Everything smells of monsters and rot. Everything is steeped in the bad taste of malice. Seeing it, the fear eats at her like the Calamity is still just rising, but there's no way she can confuse the castle for what it was Before.

But this...there were times when this was so much more her home than the castle was. This was her sanctuary. Here she felt valued.

And it is unchanged.

Her feet hit the sandstone with the same soft pat. The same banners drape across the ceiling. There's the same columns and the same pots for identical plants. Her vision doubles, and she blinks it away, thinking maybe she should go to her room for a moment. There's the same view out the back and the same throne disrupting that view, drawing the eye...

To a woman who is not Urbosa.

Link warned her that the new Chief was young, but it's still striking, mostly in how short she is. It's also striking how glamorous she looks, with her cat-eye eye-liner and her lips painted green to match the jewels she wears.

"Link!" she shouts, cutting off a woman who looks like a scribe mid-sentence. "I was wondering when you would show up."

He holds out his hand to present Zelda, and encourage her to step forward, and it's only then that she realizes that she's almost hiding behind him. "This is Zelda, the expert on Shiekah technology. She's been reactivating the Divine Beasts."

She steps up and ducks a short bow. "Chief Riju, it's an honor to meet you."

Chief Riju frowns at her. Her eyes narrow. Without breaking eye-contact, she snaps at the scribe, "Leave us."

They wait as the scribe hurries from the room, then wait a bit more as Riju props her chin on her hand and continues to assess Zelda. She's never felt such scrutiny in this room. Suddenly, the ceiling is too low. It's trapping her in. She forces herself not to let her eyes dart around in search of an exit, to hold Riju's gaze.

"Historically," Riju says, her tone slow and thoughtful, like a cat playing with its food, "we haven't gotten much news from outside the desert. But that's changed in recent months. I received reports that one day the Calamity just vanished. _Poof_! Gone! Almost like someone turned each of the Divine Beasts against the Calamity one after the other and then went into the castle to finally defeat it in battle. Well, I heard that, and I said, 'Oh, that must be Link.' But he never appeared to tell us it was true.

"Then we noticed that there hadn't been a blood moon in over a month. Not a single one since Vah Naborus fired on the castle and then deactivated. And I said, 'Well, if there are no more blood moons, then we should finally get rid of those monsters for good. And I sent a platoon to clear the path between here and Kara Kara, and then Kara Kara to the Gerudo Canyon Stable then the stable to Regencia River. And suddenly, all sorts of people start showing up. Just pouring in. Travelers and merchants and adventurers. But do you know who still didn't show his face?

"And then I heard stories that he was wandering around Hyrule, reactivating the Divine Beasts for everyone but the Gerudo, fighting monsters when we fought ours ourselves, and talking about reunification without including us. And not only that, but he's doing it all at the heels of a vai no one's ever seen before, but she's clever and driven and lovely and has a way with the Sheikah tech. The rumors said her name was Zelda. And that reminded me of the stories I'd heard about the Crown Princess Zelda of Hyrule, beloved by the Gerudo, who walked into the castle alone and held back the Calamity for a hundred years so we might prosper, the pinnacle of a self-sacrificing leader.

"But I thought, No. The crown princess would know the history between the Gerudo and greater Hyrule. She would know the history of that strained relationship. She would know that the Gerudo are the most likely to thrive outside an alliance of Greater Hyrule. The crown princess would know better than to wait so long before paying her respects to Urbosa."

Zelda flinches. She closes her eyes before she can cry. She straightens her shoulders, but they are trembling.

Link shifts beside her. She can feel his umbrage like a heat against her skin. She doesn't open her eyes to look at him.

"So," Riju continues, "isn't it good that you're not the Crown Princess Zelda of Hyrule? That you're not coming here, demanding the subservience of my people, demanding taxes and tribute and laws to let in voe or laws to take our warriors to die for you. That you're just Zelda, the Sheikah technology expert from Hateno. And the fact that you share a name with the princess is all a funny coincidence."

Zelda swallows. She tries to say, "That _is_ such an interesting coincidence. The Gerudo are such strong, capable, and admirable people, and I look forward to working with them in the coming weeks to revive Vah Naboris to use as you see fit. And I really hope you'll use her in ways that benefit all of Hyrule's people."

But instead her stomach clenches painfully, and she gasps, "I didn't get to say goodbye," and she's too too hot and the room spins.

She squints blearily up at the draped ceiling. Someone is snarling, "—don't care about your damn power struggles, you didn't have to be cruel."

"How was I supposed to know this would happen? And if you'd just _told_ me your intentions, we could avoided the whole thing!"

"You wouldn't let us get a word in edge-wise with your speechy-speech."

"I've been working on that speechy-speech for a _month_! By myself. I was proud of it. Do you know how hard it is to meet with advisors and ask subtle questions about the Hylian monarchy and what they would expect from a tributary state without raising suspicions? Just asking to have the Treaty of Nabooru pulled out of the archives would have been a huge red flag! I had to sneak in. Me! Sneak around in my own palace! And—Look, she's coming around."

"Zelda?" Link's voice is sweeter now.

"How do you feel?" Riju's is sweeter too.

They're both hovering over her, both looking worried and not sure what to do. Link is holding her hand to his chest. Riju has a cool hand pressed to her forehead.

Zelda blinks at her. "I don't want your throne," she says.

"From the sound of it, you don't want yours either."

"I'm sorry we came here last. We just started in Hateno and the Zora's Domain was so close—"

"Shh. I know. I just had to...well, now you've gone and made me feel bad."

"It's all a clever ploy," Zelda mumbles. "Now you'll underestimate me."

Riju just stares at her. Then she coughs up a laugh that seems to startle her. She leans over and swat's Link's arm. "Your girlfriend is absurd. I like her. Are you two going to get Vah Naboris running for me?"

His eyebrows lower in confusion. "Are you piloting her?"

"Don't you be absurd too. My people would never let me pilot her. Not after...Zelda, dearheart, do you want some water? Link, get her some water."

She says, "That would be lovely, thank you," and pushes herself up to sitting.

"I'm so sorry," Riju says. Her voice is higher and quicker, like a song bird, her hands moving in thoughtless gestures that now make it obvious how much of an act she was putting on earlier. She suddenly looks her actual age. "You know I had to come out swinging, and I had no idea you wouldn't try to put everything back to the way it was a hundred years ago."

Zelda rubs her temples. She finds that shielding her peripheral vision and focusing on the floor makes the air breathable. "The Treaty of Nabooru is hardly fair. We both know that. I knew there was no way you'd go back to it. I'd consider you a poor leader for your people if you didn't fight me on it."

"Exactly. See, we understand each other."

"I'd practiced my speech too, if you can believe it. I was expecting this to be difficult, but I wasn't expecting...And now I've gone and made a fool of myself."

"A bit, yes. But I think it's ultimately to your benefit, because we're friends now, and—Goddess! Link, what are you doing?"

"I can't find a cup!"

"They're to the—the left—No. _There!_ " She points and Link looks around without seeing anything. Riju gives up and slaps her hand to her forehead. "Goddess!"

Zelda watches Link search around through a short array of shelves, trying to find cups, his movements growing progressively more desperate.

"I'm sorry I passed out on your floor," Zelda says.

"I'm sorry I triggered a _ta'oten'orr_."

A Goddess sleep. When a spirit would come upon you so suddenly that your mind would be knocked from your body.

It sounds more akin to when Link has a memory, but perhaps it's not too far from the truth.

"It's mostly this room," Zelda says.

Riju looks around and seems to understand immediately what's happening. "Come," she says, tugging Zelda's elbow and helping her to stand. "Let's find somewhere else to talk. Link, just leave it!"

Riju hooks her elbow through Zelda's and guides her out into the market and down a street, pulling her into a restaurant, where she orders a spread that covers their table. There's flatbread to be dipped in a half dozen spreads. There's a platter of mixed fruit, all bright and sweet and juicy. There's meat on sticks marinated in spices that makes Zelda's breath come out like fire. There are tall glasses of fruit juice with long straws and fat bowls of fruit juice with voltfruit flowers floating across the top. They eat with their hands, Riju shuffling the plates around over and over to get dishes closer to Zelda for her to try.

"I hadn't realized how stressed I was. I haven't felt this light in weeks," Riju says, her mouth half full of crunching pastry and honey. She sucks her thumb clean, then claps her hands together. "So tell me about Naboris. What do we need to do?"

The change of scenery and improved blood sugar levels have Zelda almost feeling human again. "Actually, first, we would like to request that you let Vah Medoh land. She's making a circuit of Hyrule, carrying goods and mail. Her pilot is a Rito named Amali, whose whole family is aboard. They have fresh fish from Lurelin."

"Huh! What an odd use for a Divine Beast. Where would they like to land?"

Zelda actually has no idea, but Link says, "Could they land in the ruins between here and the ice house? Or is that disrespectful? It's out of the city limits, but not too far, and the ground will probably be firm enough."

Riju considers while chewing a cube of hyrdomelon. She shrugs like it doesn't matter, even though Zelda can recognize the calculation that went into the decision. "Sure. Just have them land in the same spot every time so if they're going to crush something, they only crush part of it."

"We'll glowing-string-travel over and tell them after lunch."

"Then we'll need to travel out to Vah Naboris," Zelda explains. "We will need to activate most of the terminals. She still won't be able to move until you've selected a Champion and we've completed the connection, but we need to ensure there hasn't been too much damage. The Rito had a tournament to pick their Champion, but the Goron Champion was appointed. It should be your decision how to proceed."

Link drinks half his juice in one go to wash down a huge mouthful of couscous, and says, "And if there are other chores you need doing, we can help. Rebuilding projects and monster infestations. I'd like to get those big sand monsters out of your way once and for all."

Riju scoffs. "It's not like they're in the way. And I've heard there's a new one, a Molduking, who moved into the Eastern Barrens. It's supposed to be enormous."

This gets Link's undivided attention.

"But then again, there have been plans to restore a few cultural sites since before the Calamity. The West Gerudo Ruins, the Arbiter's Grounds. They started work on the Seven Heroines about twenty years ago, but work had to be abandoned when Naboris blocked the way. And then if you really want to be helpful, you can do something about the Yiga."

Link makes a face, but Zelda wants to know everything about the restoration projects.

They leave the city so Link can change before warping. They decide to sleep on Vah Medoh tonight and get to Vah Naboris tomorrow. The warp point on the camel should be easily accessible in its current position, so it will be possible for them to sleep there instead of in Gerudo Town, where Zelda is clearly having problems.

She takes a look back at the market. With everything else unchanged, with the market holding the same movement and color and chaotic tidiness she's used to, it's as if Urbosa has just died. Her death is fresh. She has died and life has continued on. As if the loss during the Calamity wasn't a culture-wide upheaval, but singular and personal.

#

They arrive in Vah Medoh around sunset. A small crowd is camped out in front of the city, far enough away to be safe from squashing, but close enough to see the great bird land. The air has cooled but has yet to turn frosty, and the children are the first off the Divine Beast, where they roll and burrow into the hot sand. They greet the first of the Gerudo to arrive with dozens of overlapping questions before the Gerudo can even hope to ask their own. "Your hair is so pretty!" "Have you ever been to the ocean? We were just there. It tastes like salt! So gross!" "Do you ever get sand in your eye? How do you get it out? Can you help me? I have sand in my eye." "Do you want to see me dance? Do you know any dances? Oh! I like that one! Teach it to me!"

The Gerudo are confused. But it seems the welcoming committee of female children effectively squashed any lingering concerns over the Rito's intentions or over Vah Medoh being a threat.

A small market is set up in the ruins at Vah Medoh's feet, where the Gerudo offer arrows and jewelry and fine foods, and Mubs from Lurelin trades for fresh fish and then sets a few of the Gerudo down to show them how to prepare them: from de-scaling to filleting. The Gerudo grow easily frustrated with their butchered fish, and Mubs more flustered by the second until Zelda steps and suggests maybe Mubs prepare these fish for them until they can get used to it. Link shows a different group of Gerudo how to cook crabs by tossing them straight into an open flame and then crack them open and suck out the meat. It's an activity which the Gerudo find much more enjoyable than preparing fish and at which they are much more adept. They buy all Mubs' crabs and tell her to bring more next time, which makes her pale. She wasn't expecting there to be a next time.

Kass sets himself on a broken column to play the accordion for the crowd, and after several songs, he hops down to hear about the Gerudo's music and to mine everyone for information on the Champion Urbosa.

Amali pulls Zelda aside. "I'm not a merchant," she says. "I feel like I should be buying things, because I know they'll sell in other parts of the country, but I don't have anything to trade and I don't know how much to get and I—"

Zelda reaches out to smooth both Amali's wings and soothe her. "You're absolutely right. That's not your job. How about, we buy samples of everything, so you can show what's available to everyone on the next circuit, and you invite merchants to come aboard Vah Medoh for a circuit and do their own trading. Does that sound fair?"

Amali practically sags in relief, nodding her head.

Kass has moved on to attempting to accompany a trio of Gerudo drummers, who find his improvised melodies hilarious. He dutifully tries to keep up and fit their tone, and they gleefully make their rhythms more complicated, until suddenly everything fits. The music locks together into a sound both haunting and joyful, and the drummers cheer and the crowd cheers and then everyone is moving, singing, dancing. It's a dance she learned Before, and it comes naturally now.

"Imagine there are two lines of people," Urbosa explained, her long fingers moving through the air, her face lit in firelight. "You spin around the person directly in front of you, then person to their left, and then you slip back to your row. It's easy. Except, of course, the rows aren't straight like they would be at a Hylian ball. They curve through the party and double back on themselves and sometimes people join and sometimes people leave, and you can circle your partner however you want, except you all have to stomp your feet and clap your hands in unison."

And now Zelda is circling, spinning with partners who grab her hands and twirl her, twisting between partners with a sway of her hips, pulling up short to clap her hands to the sky, a clap made a chorus that rings to the desert sky. She dances until Link cuts in as her partner, slipping an arm around her waist and spinning her as she laughs. He's grinning, and his eyes sparkle in the torchlight. He hits the stomp on time, because he knows the dance as well as she does, of course he does, and that makes her love him all the more. She locks onto him and falls out of her row, and he simply raises an eyebrow and rolls with it as they move as a unit to circle their next partner, who laughs at their antics and rolls with it too.

They dance almost all night. In the morning, it's an easy walk from Wasteland Tower to Vah Naboris. Link reaches the warp point by simply using Revali's Gale and paraglides back down once he's activated it. They're aboard Vah Naboris within the hour.


	35. Chapter 35 Vah Naboris

[from Zelda's Journal #7: Research and Observations of Sexual Activities]

 **Methods**

-Location: Vah Naboris, Spectacle Rock

-View to the west: sunset (superb), desert stars (unparalleled).

-Clothes (him): full desert voe armor (minus sword, shield, and bow)

-Clothes (me): newly purchased Gerudo outfit, including mid-drift revealing halter bodice (red), long skirt with high slit (red), kerchief (red, not new).

-Earlier in the day, Link collected a plush rug and far too many pillows (14) from Gerudo Town. He arranged them in a nest on the balcony of Vah Naboris, intending for us to sleep outside. It took him several trips to accomplish this.

 **Procedures**

-My ears continued to be overly-sensitive. Perhaps I am suffering some nerve or neurological damage, as a side effect of my prolonged disembodiment during my time battling Ganon. Do other people do this? I will need to ask Urbos- Imp- Someone. Should I care that they are so sensitive? I certainly didn't when he took my earlobe into his mouth. He had me gasping and writhing so quickly that it was frankly absurd. Even though it was so very enjoyable, the reflex to pull away continued to be overwhelming. In order to continue the over-stimulation, he had to hold me in place, which was itself arousing. 6 out of 10.

-The high slit on my skirt provided easy access to my right leg. The leg naturally slipped from under the skirt, giving the illusion of a bared thigh. He showed extreme enthusiasm for touching said thigh. 3 out of 10.

-Despite the increased area of exposed skin, his hands still gravitated to my rear (see previous entries), which he explored with as much enthusiasm as he showed my bared thigh. I found it difficult not to rock my hips along with the gentle pulses of his hands. It was a bit like dancing in a way: a subtle, guiding movement, and my whole body would respond instinctively. I am aware that I should be embarrassed of these base reflexes, especially when they involve essentially rutting against his thigh, but he seemed to enjoy my response, obviously encouraging it. Besides which, it was enjoyable and within the bounds of The Rules. 7 out of 10.

-The new skit also provided easy contact of my bared thigh with his bared torso when I sat atop him. This simulated nudity, which was much appreciated. 5 out of 10.

-It was more difficult (although still would not be impossible) to reveal my left leg through the slit, as this would require a conscious effort to move aside the skirt's front fabric, violating Rule 1: Clothes Stay On. *Note: Brainstorm how to accomplish this*

-I was quite excited to explore his bared chest (see previous entries). This was my first opportunity to do so, given Rule 1. His skin had a higher temperature than I was expecting. He had light definition of both pectoral and abdominal muscles. There was no difference in texture between scarred tissue and non-scarred tissue, although several of the scars were slightly indented, thus delineating them from the skin surrounding them by touch alone.

-My intention was to kiss down his chest (see previous entries re: his licking my abs and possible reciprocity, re: the unfairness of Rule 1), and he seemed agreeable (tipping his head back, closing his eyes, his respiratory rate increasing). Half way to my destination, I had the unplanned thought to kiss his nipple, which received an instant and unexpected positive reaction. Given the positive critique, I chose to linger over said area, adding the use of tongue and suction, both also to enthusiastic approval. I had never seen him so aroused so abruptly—his back arched and he became much more vocal (mostly groans, but also affirmative approvals, my name, and expletives). He held the back of my head to encourage me to continue. His obvious pleasure (or perhaps more accurately, the knowledge that I was the one to provide that pleasure) increased my own arousal. 5 out of 10, although he would most likely have rated the experience much higher. Perhaps this is what he felt when he lavished my ears with attention. I wonder if my own nipples would be so sensitive. Hopefully tonight's experiments will lead to a reexamination of Rule 2: Link Does Not Touch Zelda's Chest.

I suppose without frustrating restrictions, one cannot invent creative solutions.

But I digress.

-The desert voe pants were made of thinner material than his usual trousers. This made it much easier to observe his state of arousal. As I kissed his chest, I made sure to rest some of my weight against his groin, to provide him with some friction.

-As I still had an experiment in mind (re: licking of abs), and his enjoyment seemed to reach of point of diminishing return, I continued lower on his body. My kisses were quite sloppy by this point, and I wonder if perhaps more dry, teasing kisses would provide a different stimulus than the constant press of my tongue dragging down his torso. I was excited to reach his abdominal muscles and show them the same attention I showed his nipple, when he gave yet another unanticipated response: His whole body tensed, and he curled in on himself and said, "Wait, wait, wait," and took hold of my shoulders and guided me back up his body. He seemed panicked, and said, "You don't have to do that."

-At that moment, I was focused on my impending experiment, and I did not understand then that he assumed I was preparing to orally stimulate his genitals, breaking both Rule 1 and by necessity Rule 3: No Hands Touching Genitals (even through clothes). Instead I told him that I _wanted to_ , to which he said he didn't want me to feel used or to hurt me, at which point I gave him a withering look and told him to just let me lick his abs already. He blushed a deep red and said, "Oh," and I finally realized our miscommunication. I gently explained my objective, and he looked so relieved that I held back offering to orally stimulate his genitals.

-Stroking my tongue deep into the abdominal muscles in a repeated, upward stroke, resulted in his hips canting along with the motion. I held him still with a hand low on his hip a hand on the inside of his thigh, spreading his legs so I fit between them. I believe this must have been evocative of the situation he first envisioned. He reached over his head and grabbed the pillows behind him (I assume so he would not grab my hair).

-He attempted to stop our activities again, explaining, "Zelda, we're in the desert. I can't wash my pants," but we were both breathless and swept up in the moment, so he only made it as far as to pull me up from his navel before we were kissing again, and I resumed rutting, now against his wonderful abs which were by then slick with saliva and sweat. (8 out of 10)

-He pulled his head back with a hiss, although his hands did not release my thigh and my rear, and his hips continued rolling. He expressed that he was very close to climax and did not find the prospect of ejaculating in his pants to be a desirable one. As stopping our activities seemed an outrageous and unobtainable endeavor, and as I was not thinking with a clear head, I said, "Use this," and tore off my kerchief. This was a risk as my hair is still unattractive, and it's not one of my nicer kerchiefs (though that might be to its benefit now), and perhaps this violated Rule 1. He lost the ability to form complete sentences ("Holy [expletive]—Zelda, You—Oh Goddess, [expletive]—"). He bit his lip, closed his eyes, and groaned, until I sucked his lower lip out from between his teeth. He tore the kerchief from my hand, kissed me rapturously, and redoubled his efforts to please me with his mouth on my ear and one hand tangled in my hair and one on my rear, with my thigh skin-to-skin against his side as I rolled against the abdominal muscles I've been pining after.

-(10 out of 10)

-While I was boneless and seeing stars, he flipped us and hovered over me. Then (to use his phrase) he took care of himself. I could only see the corollary motions to his main activity: the movement of his upper arm, the rolling movements of his shoulder, the quickening of his breath. But it was more arousing than expected, especially since I was already satisfied. It may have had something to do with how he held eye contact until the very end.

-He folded up my kerchief with reverence, kissed me with a moan, and whispered, "Thank you." Then he hid the kerchief away somewhere out of sight. *Note: Have some sort of basket or other receptacle ready for next time.*

-He groaned when I pulled away from him to reach out of our nest of pillows, then again when he saw this journal, but then he snuggled against my side without further complaint and went to sleep while I wrote. He seemed to have accepted that I need to write my field notes after our activities. Perhaps he observed the improvements since I began recording and analyzing our experiments, and he finally realized that such improvements benefit him.

 **Conclusions**

-Is my kerchief attractive? I didn't think it was, but now I'm questioning. I don't understand it. Perhaps I'm misinterpreting his response. Do I need nicer kerchiefs?

-I don't think Link realizes how many of his formal mannerisms persist from Before. He would probably not be happy to hear it. Come to think of it, I'm not all that ecstatic about them either. I find it strange that _this_ is the moment where he insists on following Rules invented to impose propriety. More than that, it seems as though he believes these rules will protect me from him, as if I still need to maintain a chaste reputation and as if he is at all capable of mistreating me. Of course, I hope he relaxes, but if these are the boundaries he needs in order to feel comfortable, I will, of course, respect them.

-He should wear the desert voe outfit at all times from this moment forth. He is never allowed to change clothes again. We will never again leave the desert. We live on Vah Noboris now. I see no reason for us to ever leave ever.


	36. Chapter 36 Gerudo Desert

It's an easy walk from Vah Naborus to the obelisk with maps to the next set of trials. One is most likely the Molduking in the East Barrens, and Link guesses that one of them is some kind of race, as all the other trials have had one of those.

The last one is at the Yiga hideout. Link frowns at the map for far too long. When she asks what he thinks, which she must admit is a silly question, he clenches his jaw, shakes his head, and then covers his worries with a grin. "Want to watch me defeat a Molduking?"

She doesn't really, but she does want to see it and get some pictures. He offers her his sand boots, which she slips on under her skirt, and they glide as far as they can toward the stretch of ruins in the desert below, trudging the rest of the way through the sand. After about ten minutes, they make it to a massive rock outcropping, jutting from the desert.

Link helps her climb it, and once on top, they have a view of the ruins. Shockingly enough, they aren't alone on the outcropping. There's a woman next to a camp fire, who gasps and spins around at their approach. Link stiffens a bit, at first making Zelda think the woman is a Yiga in disguise, but then he nods and says in a quiet voice, "Traysi."

The woman narrows her eyes and answers in her own harsh whisper, "What are you doing out here? Who are you?"

"We're here for the Molduking, like you are probably."

Zelda asks, "Do you two know each other?" and they both shush her. She's not sure why they're whispering.

"We've met," he answers, but it's odd for Link to meet someone and them not to remember him. It's odd he didn't answer the question about who they are.

But it all makes sense when he explains, "She writes the Rumor Mill."

Zelda has never heard of that before, but she has enough experience with similar publications that she recognizes its kind anyway. And now Link's hesitancy makes sense. He's trying to preserve what little privacy they've tried to maintain.

Traysi brightens, "Oh, are you a fan?"

He shrugs and adjusts his arm guard, pretending he's not anxious around the rumor monger. It seems to fool Traysi, but Zelda can see the hesitancy in the way he hold his shoulders. "Sure. It's informative, yeah."

She looks smug. "No stealing my scoop," she warns. "Everyone's going to hear about the Molduking from the Rumor Mill. Not from whatever rag you're running."

Link holds up his hands in surrender.

A movement draws Zelda's attention, and she turns. For a moment, she can't tell what she's looking at. The sun is behind it, and it seems as if a great, bulbous column hovers suspended over the sand. But then it starts to fall. It hits the sand, then shudders and buries itself. It takes off at incredible speed, it's wake visible on the sand's surface. It comes closer, then veers off and away to the far edge of the ruins. There, where it's no longer backlit, it leaps once again into the air. It's so massive that Zelda clasps her hands over her mouth. Her eyes are wide, and yet they can't take in the whole beast at once.

How did it throw its bulk so far out of the sand?

When it submerges once more, Link lets out a low whistle. "That's a big one."

Now she understands why they're keeping their voices low.

Traysi turns to them, looking as smug as if she raised the beast from an egg herself. "It's three hundred feet long!"

That... seems inaccurate, and the inaccuracy is enough to shake Zelda out of her shock. When the beast surfaces again, she's ready with the slate. She gets a couple good images and several useless ones that she deletes immediately. She takes a seat on the rocky ground, and is relieved that the sand boots allow her to sit cross-legged.

Link pulls out a couple hydromelons, cutting open the tops and handing one to her so she can drink from it like a very wide cup while she sketches the creature's anatomy in a journal and attempts to get more detailed images of its tail and back legs. Its coloring differs from its smaller relatives. It's paler, as if it's been in hibernation hidden from the sun. Its belly is a mottled red. The ribs between its top fins are wider, bulkier.

Traysi huffs, annoyed that they're also there to learn about the Molduking. She takes a seat on the other side of the outcropping to take her own notes. She keeps shooting dirty looks at them, sticking her nose in the air and sighing loud enough for them to hear.

Aside from that, the quiet is almost nice. Just the wind and the distant swish of the Molduking moving around. Link seems content to sit in companionable silence and drink his hydromelon.

"How do you think its sensory systems compare to those of the Molduga?" she asks, keeping her voice low and close. "I wonder if it still uses a combination of hearing and pressure receptors. In which case, with its larger organs, its senses are likely far more acute."

"You want to run some tests?" he teases, reaching out a hand for the slate.

She's not sure she is ready. Not ready to end her observations (which will surely end shortly after Link engages the beast). Not ready to let Link throw himself into such obvious danger.

But when will she ever be ready for either of those?

She hands him the slate, and Link pushes himself to standing. "Any way I could get my boots back too?"

Traysi shows far too much interest in Link as he changes pants, and (much to her own dismay) Zelda ends up glaring at her until Traysi feigns innocence. _What? She wasn't doing anything. Zelda's the weird one._

Link pulls Zelda in to kiss her, and when he pulls back, his smile is blinding enough to dry up her fears.

"Be safe," she whispers.

He uses Revali's gale (much to Traysi's spluttering annoyance), and glides out to a column a fair distance away. He throws a bomb onto the sand and it rolls for perhaps a half second before the Molduking changes course.

"What is he doing?" Traysi hisses.

"He's a monster hunter. He's going to take care of the Molduking."

"What?! No! This is my scoop!"

The Molduking launches itself into the sky and swallows the bomb whole. When the bomb goes off, its deep howl of pain rolls over them like thunder. The beast crashes to the sand, and Link is on it, whaling on it as if it were a talis that wronged him. As the beast begins to wriggle, working it's way back into the sand, the sky flashes with lightning and the beast cries out again. Link runs to the nearest column, his arms pumping, sand flying up behind him. But the beast has righted itself. It shudders under the sand and takes off. Too quickly.

Link is half way up the column when the Molduking slams into it, and Link goes flying into the air. Hurled like a rag doll. Launched like a cannon. He flies unnaturally hard, and lands just as hard as expected.

Zelda screams. She's on her feet. His body hits the sand and tumbles. The Molduking charges toward him, throwing up sand to obscure her view. His body seems to glow green for a moment.

She has to get to Link. Get to Link, warp away. Get to Link, warp away. She pops out her paraglider.

The rind of her hydromelon has rolled from her lap. It falls off the rock. Bounces against the sand.

The Molduking skids to a stop in its flight toward Link, and changes course

For a split second, Zelda is weak and cold with relief. She can get to him. She can reach him.

Until she realizes the Molduking is now headed straight for her.

Traysi curses and scurries backwards, backing against a higher outcropping behind them, bracing against the rock.

But Zelda holds her ground.

Let the beast come. She's faced worse. She tucks the paraglider away and slips her bow from her back. The beast hurt Link, and if the only way to him is through the monster, then she'll go through the monster.

She's going to kill the Molduking.

The power of the Goddess builds in her chest, expanding outward, swelling so much it's hard to swallow. The power rolls down her arms. She feels as if her eyes are glowing, as if her hair is lifting. She pulls back her bow and aims for the wave of sand rushing toward her. Gold light curls down the arrow like the swirling, misty power from the Sheikah relics.

When the monster surfaces, snapping the hydromelon out of the air, Zelda's arrow rips through its side below its front arm. The arrow hits so hard that the monster is blown backwards. It hits so hard that a golden boom of power rips out from the impact, whipping back her hair, throwing a wae of sand at the rock. The Molduking crashes through four stone columns and hits the sand so hard that there's a second boom, a rumble through the ground. Electricity dances over its body, rolling and rolling like a thunderstorm. It twitches and groans.

Zelda may have used a shock arrow. She's not sure.

She draws another one, ready to hit it again, when suddenly there's a change to the timbre of its moans, suddenly it jerks as if squirming away from something. And there's Link, back on his feet beside the creature, beating a great thunder blade against the creature's belly. A final burst of lightning, and the creature's back arches, its spine curling like a bow, high into the air. It vanishes in a puff of smoke, and treasures from the beast's belly rain down onto the sand.

Traysi is shouting, "You killed it!" And Zelda is popping open her paraglider and throwing herself towards Link. The power of the Goddess propels her through the air.

She hits the ground hard and stumbles the last few yards, scurrying through the sand to reach him as he rushes towards her and shouts, "Are you okay?! You screamed. It was coming for you."

They crash against each other. He grabs her by the elbows to steady her but pulls away as if he's scared to touch her. She takes his face in her hands to check him for damage. "I thought you were dead! Are you alright?!"

He carefully runs his hands down her arms, which glow and twitch as if she was the one who was electrocuted. "You're glowing. Zel, did _you_ make that explosion?"

Instead of answering, she checks over his neck and shoulders and chest in desperation. He winces when she reaches his sides, already a deep purple on the left. "You're hurt!"

"It's just my ribs. Nothing a fairy tonic can't handle. Zelda, what did you do?"

The power of the Goddess sloughs off her, so when she presses her hand to his ribs, his skin glows instantly. He sucks in a breath, then grabs her hand with his own as if steadying himself. She closes her eyes and sinks into the feeling, the reassurance that he's alright, he's going to be alright, even as the image of him flying through the air plays again and again across her closed eyelids. She can hear the sound of him hitting the sand in her memories, even though there's no way she actually heard it. She thought he was dead. She was sure he was dead.

He's breathing easier when she checks him again. The bruising is gone, and his side is the right shape again. Her hands are back on his face, checking his eyes, which still look dismayed bordering. She doesn't care.

"What did you hit it with?" he asks.

"A shock arrow."

"A shock— _What_?!"

"A shock arrow powered by the Goddess."

"That—Zelda!"

"Yes, fine! I disrupted your trial. I don't care. It _threw you_! I thought you were _dead_!"

"If you'd finished it off, the shrine might not have popped up."

"You don't know that. I finished off some of the guardians in Zora's Domain. And what if it had finished _you_ off? Would the shrine have popped up then?"

"You shouldn't have got its attention. What if it had thrown _you_?"

"Don't lecture me on what's dangerous."

"Don't put yourself in danger for no reason."

" _No reason_!"

"Yeah, It was just a big sand monster. Your Goddess powers were overkill."

"It _hurt you!_ "

"I'm fine! I have five fairies on me and Mipha's Grace and—"

" _Mipha's Grace_?!"

Taken aback by the sudden, renewed strength of her glowing, he blinks and then realizes his mistake. "I…shouldn't have told you that."

"It killed you!" She grabs her hair, glowing so brightly now that Link winces. "It killed you! I can't believe you let it kill you!"

"Whoa, I didn't _let it_ kill me."

She holds her head with both hands, shaking too badly now to answer.

"Zelda, it's my job to kill monsters. It's what I'm good at."

"You just died!"

"Fine. You can just go kill the rest of the monsters since you're so good at it."

"And you can go get yourself killed, since you're so good at _that_."

She glares at him, her fear and anger and the power of the Goddess rolling through her body, thrashing for release. She wants to shove him. She wants to scream at him.

"Is angry kissing a thing?" he asks. "Because that could be a thing."

She grabs the leather strap of his baldric in a fist and yanks him to her. She wants him to feel her anger, wants him to taste it, wants the boiling emotions to burn from her mouth into his and sear down his throat to his heart.

It's not him she's mad at. Not really. She's mad at the monster, and the monster is gone, and now her anger is directionless, pouring off her in an oppressive haze of magic.

She kisses him, all heat and force, her mouth too wide over his and her head tilted too far back. Her fingers dig into his waist, pulling him so tight against her that all the buckles on his belts bite into her skin, so tight that her hand is trapped where it's wrapped around his baldric between them, her hand all hard knuckles and sharp nails digging into her sternum. She pulls back only enough to breathe hotly against his mouth. "It threw you, and I saw you land, and it was coming for you again, and I couldn't…I couldn't control…"

"You screamed," he says. "When I close my eyes, I hear you scream. I see it coming for you. It's like the Calamity is coming for you. I had to get to you."

She tugs him down for another kiss.

He wraps his arms more fully around her, more of an embrace than the clutching grasp she has on him. She tries to let her muscles relax, to let some of the power drip off her into the sand.

"Mipha's Grace," she mutters.

"It's useful."

"Don't tell me that."

The struggling sound of someone running on sand eases them apart, although only so far as they can both face Traysi and not be crushed against each other. Traysi huffs up to them, doubles over to plant her hands on her knees, and catches her breath. "That...was amazing! Who are you? What did you shoot at it? How often have you done this?" She pulls out her little notebook and straightens herself. "Let me have an exclusive interview. I'll make you famous. Monster hunter couple defeats Molduking in epic, magic battle in the desert!"

"Thanks," Link says, "but we'd rather not."

Zelda can't hold still, she flicks the fingers of the hand not wrapped around Link's waist, watching as golden drops of magic sprays from her fingers.

"Don't be ridiculous! People would pay good money to have you come kill monster for them. This could be the start of a whole new career for you."

Zelda steps back on the pretense of collecting the weapons and treasure chests the Molduking swallowed over the centuries. She tries not the think about where the spears and swords must have come from.

"We don't do it for the money," Link says.

"Then why do you do it? For the thrill? Hey," Traysi calls, "what was that arrow you shot it with?"

Any answer Zelda gives is going to be biting and possibly accompanied by a blast of golden light that shoots from her face and lights the reporter on fire, so it's probably for the best that she not speak. She hands Link the swords and spears she's collected, and he sorts through them, tossing a spear back to the ground, and handing her a scimitar that feels a decent weight in her hands. The light of the Goddess twists up the handle into the blade, and she tucks it into her belt before the magic can really take hold of it.

"It was nice seeing you," Link says, giving Traysi a friendly half-smile and herding Zelda towards the shrine that has arisen out of the rock. Maybe he's trying to get her somewhere secluded before she turns into a puddle of magic.

"Wait, you're leaving? You're just _leaving_? At least tell me your names!"

Link doesn't even turn, he just lifts his free hand in a wave and shouts, "Have a great day!"

#

Zelda may never get over the shrine. She gets so worked up that her fingers twitch and the glow lighting her chest starts to make a high-pitched humming noise and she talks more quickly than she has ever talked before, until Link actually looks frightened. He guides her backwards from the puzzle and has her look him in the eyes until she's calmed down a bit.

But the shrine is amazing. There's a green, glowing device like a pylon that stores electricity, and that electric current can be directed through wires built into the floor and walls, through water and through metal blocks. The electricity powers doors and walkways. Think of how they could use it in elevators or water pumps or heating systems or vehicles of transportation! When the shock of discovery fades, she finds herself completely absorbed. Focusing her roiling emotions on a single task lets the power of the Goddess ease from beneath her skin. Her mind clears.

After his flare of adrenaline and anxiety, Link's voice tightens as he tells her to stay back from the water, and she snaps at him that he has no business telling her to be safe. He relaxes as he sees that she (unlike him) utilizes precaution. She uses the magnesis rune to safely move the conductive metal, keeping everything at a distance, and she takes her time as she works. She writes and babbles at him about ways the electricity might be generated by the pylons, and when she looks up, Link is smiling wistfully at her. It reminds her that she's grumpy with him, and she narrows her eyes and cuts herself off mid-sentence. He _died_ and thinks that's _fine_. For some unfathomable, enraging reason, her glares just make his smiles more dopey.

He does not get it, and she is going to be mildly angry at him forever.

It's unfortunate, because the shrine is full of wonders, and she would much rather feel awe and glee than whatever Link is making her feel.

They spend far more time in the shrine than they were expecting, because Zelda has to try a dozen things and take copious notes. She must return soon to do more research. How far can the electricity reach through water? Are ice pillars conductors? Can she build her own wires? And most pressing of all: can she reconstruct a pylon?

Then Link says—as if it's not an earth-shattering revelation—that probably all the shrines in the desert are electric themed.

Traysi has given up by the time they return to the surface, and Zelda is back to being her normal self (although slightly more agitated than usual and much more irritated than usual with Link in particular).

Standing in the dry heat of the afternoon, in the peaceful quiet of the desert, he slips an arm around her waist to warp, but pauses before touching the shrine near Gerudo Town. "We make a good team," he says. "Taking out that sand monster."

"Or a terrible team considering how panicked we are over one another. And I'm not doing another one."

"I bet you could take out one of the smaller ones with one shot."

"Only if I tap into the Goddess' powers."

"Yeah." He pauses. "Have you thought about learning to harness it?"

"What?"

"Like, using your powers on command, and not just when you're upset."

She shakes her head. "They aren't my powers. They're the Goddess's."

He frowns like he doesn't believe that. Then nods his acceptance and kisses her forehead before warping them away. Almost as if he understands how terrifying it is to think about what she could do with the power and how epically she could fail.


	37. Chapter 37 Gerudo Desert

Riju has decided to pick a Champion through a blend of the Goron policy of appointment and the Rito policy of epic spectacle via tournament. As the chief, she will put forth contenders, and they will compete in three trials, which everyone can watch and celebrate. It seems there is going to be a large "style" component, which makes the judging less numerical than the Rito's system. At the end of the trials, Riju will announce the new Champion based on who best encapsulates the Gerudo spirit.

When Link suggests having each contender fight a muldga, Riju sags dramatically in relief. "Perfect. There are four moldugas so there should be four contenders. I was going to have there be six contenders, but I couldn't think of a sixth and I was kind of meh on the fifth. Four it is!"

Riju doesn't even bat an eye at the suggestion that she send her potential champions to face off against giant monsters. She doesn't even seem to consider that they might be seriously hurt.

"Of course she's thinking about it," Link says as they head across the market, their business at the palace shockingly brief after a simple check in and a request that they deliver a message to Kass, who's staying at the bazaar to work on his song. "She just knows the Champions should be willing to risk their lives."

"Risk their lives for their country and the people under their protection. Not risk their lives for a spectacle."

"It's a test to see if they're brave enough and strong enough fighters."

"Strong enough fighters for what? There's no longer anything to fight."

"Not once they get those sand monsters!"

They end up in the canteen for a light dinner, where Link trails off half way through ordering at the bar to give an odd look to a woman across the room. It takes Zelda a moment to place her, and by then the woman is squinting at her as well.

"Zelda? The tech lab vai? That's your name, right?"

"Rhondson," Link says. "What are you doing here?" He walks over to take a seat at her table with Zelda following along.

"Link?" she asks. Her eyes bounce over him, up and down, up and down. Then she shrugs, says, "Huh!" and takes another sip of her drink.

"What are you doing back here?" he asks.

She scowls down at her drink like it's more bitter than she expected, then tosses back another mouthful. "Did you know they were serious about that naming convention thing?"

"What naming convention?" Zelda asks.

"Everyone associated with Bolson Construction has to have a name ending in 'son.' Did you not notice?"

She had, but she thought it was an odd quirk.

"Is that...an issue?" Link asks.

Rhondson tosses her hair over her shoulder and looks down at him imperiously. "Do you know what they call this drink?" she asks.

"No?"

"A virgin. Isn't that ironic. No, not ironic. Just rude. Rubbing it in that I can't have real alcohol." She takes a swig of it as if it's hard liquor and not juice.

"Congratulations?" Zelda says. She shoots Link a look from the corner of her eye, but he seems just as lost as she is. He just looks more content to be lost.

Rhondson lifts her glass in a toast. "Sarqso!" She drinks. "Hudson wants he baby to be a voe! A _voe_!"

"Yikes," Link says

"Doesn't he know how rare male Gerudo children are?" Zelda asks.

"I told him! He didn't believe me, and then he puffed himself up and said he could 'beat the odds.'"

Again, Link says, "Yikes."

"Right? And if the 'son' thing and the son thing weren't both bad enough, he wants to name it _Harson_. Can you think of anything more gross?"

"Doesn't he know that the Gerudo only name their children after the Sacrificed Sisters?" Zelda asks. "That's only about two thousand names."

"Apparently not!"

Link shakes his head in sympathy as his and Zelda's drinks and hummus arrive. "Furosa should come up with a new drink for you to make you feel better," he says.

"The 'Knocked Up,'" she suggests.

"The 'Leaving Your No Good Husband.'"

"Oh, I like that one!" They clink their glasses together.

If you ask Zelda, the naming convention is probably something Rhondson and her husband should have discussed before getting married. She must be frowning, because Rhondson glares at her. "What? Are you one of those vai who think we shouldn't leave husbands no matter how terrible they are?"

"Hardly," she says. "I was just thinking."

"What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking...in my family, all the first born women are named Zelda. My mother was Zelda, and my grandmother was Zelda, and my grandmother's mother was Zelda. If my husband attempted to ignore that tradition and tried to change it, I would be...upset."

Rhondson scrunches up her nose. "Doesn't that get confusing?"

Zelda blinks at her. "No."

"How do you know which Zelda you're talking about?"

They all had titles. Princess Zelda, Queen Zelda. And for most of her life, Zelda was the only living Zelda. Perhaps, in the future, the tradition will become confusing.

Instead of saying any of this, she says, "We had nicknames."

Link nods his head. "Like Zelda and Old Zelda and Baby Zelda."

She elbows him in the ribs.

"Hmm." Rhondson considers this, narrowing her eyes at the ceiling and drumming her fingernails against her glass. Then shakes her head. "No no. That's completely different. That's a family tradition that honors your Mzazi and your Vaba. The only person this awful idea honors is Bolson."

"Maybe you should pull a Zelda and name your kid Rhondson," Link suggests. "Then it's not about Bolson. It's about you."

Rhondson's eyes light. "Heeeeey, there's an idea! But Hudson won't go for it. He won't name a voe Rhondson, and he'll insist that it will be a voe."

"You could play the odds then," Zelda suggests. "Tell him that if the baby is a voe, you'll let him name him Harson, and if the baby is a vai you get to name her Rhondson. You have a one in a hundred thousand chance of Hudson getting his way."

"Devious," Link says.

"Thank you," she responds. "If he's not going to listen to reason and refuses to grasp this very basic concept of his wife's culture, then he deserves it."

The corners of Link's eyes crinkle as he smiles.

Suddenly, Rhondson's leaning far across the table, poking a finger so far in Link's face that Zelda worries she might rip off his veil. "And you," she warns. "Are you one of those Hylians who wants voe children?"

"I...no?"

"You _will_ let her name all of her children. Even if she names every last one of them Zelda."

"Well, yeah."

It's suddenly far too hot in the canteen, and Zelda develops a sudden interest in the garnish atop her drink.

Rhondson sits back, pleased with Link's confused answers. "Good. But you don't have to worry about it for a while anyway. What are you, like twelve-years-old?"

"I'm eighteen," Link says.

Zelda drops the purple flower she was twisting between her finger and turns to him. "How do you figure that?"

"It was a few days after your seventeenth birthday when..." He darts a look at Rhondson. "...when I got myself hurt. And that was...something like fifteen months ago. That makes me eighteen and a bit."

She stares at him, waiting for him to realize the flaw in his logic. He doesn't seem to notice, as he's too busy trying to scoop as much hummus onto a naan as possible.

"Link...we don't have the same birthday."

That gets his attention, and he turns to her. He tilts his head like he has water in his ear and thinks on it a bit. At length, he concludes: "Huh." He lifts his eyebrows in a kind of shrug, like it's an interesting notion he hasn't considered before.

He doesn't ask if she knows how old he is. He doesn't ask if she knows the date of his birthday. He doesn't care.

His complete disinterest in his life Before has never shocked her before, but for some reason this has her reeling.

Rhondson shakes her head at them. "Hylians are so strange. Let me ask you: do you know what the deal is with socks?"

It's just confusing enough to snap Zelda from confusion about Link to confusion about Rhondson. "I beg your pardon? Did you say socks?"

"Yes. They go between your feet and your shoes and soak up all the foot sweat."

"What about them?" Link asks.

Rhondson throws her hands in the air and shouts, " _Why!?_ "

"To soak up your foot sweat," Link says. "And to make it so you don't get blisters."

" _Why don't you just wear sandals!?_ "

"So you don't stub your toe on rocks."

"Look where you're going and go around the rocks!"

The argument only gets more preposterous from there as Link decides he's going to defend closed-toed shoes to his dying breath and Rhondson fails to understand anything he has to say. It ends with Link telling her it'll be a long hike back to Tarrey Town in sandals, and her telling him that she made the trip once already and it was fine. Also, she's going to get a ride on Vah Medoh when the Divine Beast comes back next week. She wants Hudson to be shocked when she steps off the monster like it's no big deal. Also, she's going to look amazing doing it. She's going to buy a new outfit and a whole bunch of new bracelets.

#

Furosa overhears that they're headed to the bazaar, and hands them a package of spices to deliver to Kachoo at the inn. Link tosses Zelda his sand boots, and she ducks into the washroom at the canteen to change. "Wear your silly red shirt," Rhondson calls after her. It's advice she follows, but doesn't understand until later.

Since men aren't allowed inside the city, all the voe assemble at the oasis in a kind of tent town, where they wait for their chance to sell their goods or make a favorable impression on the women of the city.

"If Amali hadn't introduced Kass as her husband, he wouldn't have had to stay at Kara Kara," Link says. "The Gerudo can't tell which of the Rito are men."

He's hopping on one foot as he pulls back on his favorite pants, having stripped off his outfit the moment they left the city. They're within sight of the gate guards, who watch him in interest and don't seem the slightest bit offended. This late in the day as the temperature has started dropping, and he opts for his Champion's tunic, only bothering to put up his hair in the Gerudo style. Zelda can't say she cares for this.

"Kass wants to honor the Gerudo's rules," she says.

Link tugs his last belt tight and gives her a smirk before they head along the path. With the monsters cleared out and the temperature at a reasonable level and the sand boots, it's not a difficult walk.

They can hear the music as soon as they reach the bazaar. It seems that most of the people have lost interest in Kass, and they go about their business as if they can no longer hear him. Honestly, everyone seems much more interested in Zelda's presence than the musical Rito. She realizes that if the men watching her now could see her navel, she'd feel even more uncomfortable.

As they pass the only permanent building, Link says, "Let me run into the inn and drop this off real fast," and she nods and turns to admire the nearby fruit stand. She's not really hungry, and Link probably has dozens of hydromelons in his stores. But they do look good, all bright green and ripe. She taps one and it makes a hollow _thunk_.

"Excuse me."

She looks up to see a nervous Hylian man in glasses has slipped up beside her.

"I couldn't help but notice your sand boots."

She looks down at herself then smiles. "Yes. They're quite amazing."

"And they're so rare. It's astonishing that you have a pair."

She's about to tell him that she's just borrowing from her—but then she trips over what label to use for Link, because the only thing she can come up with is "my voe," and that's...hmm. Before she can get her brain working again, he sighs loudly. "I used to have a pair of sand boots. I loaned them to the woman I was courting. I really should have known it would end in tragedy. She was so feisty, so adventurous, so beautiful. She ripped my heart from my chest and used my boots to walk away."

"How terrible!"

He nods sadly. "She stole my heart and stole my shoes, leaving me at the mercy of the hot desert sand."

"That's...did she say anything? Why she was leaving or where she was going?" This sounds like one of the dozens of misunderstandings she's heard since traveling around Hyrule with Link. If they can find this woman, they'll probably find her in need of some sort of aid or trapped somewhere and unable to return to her beau. Zelda has faith that they can bring this ordeal to a happy conclusion and win over a few more hearts and minds.

"No," he says sadly. "I never knew where she was from. She traveled all over. To the Gerudo Highlands to find the Eighth Heroine and the lost sword. She was such an adventurer! So interested in history and Gerudo culture! And she had such an eye for photography! I was just about to declare my intentions, but she stopped me before I could finish and told me to not even try."

Oh. Well, that didn't sound promising. Unless the woman was trying to protect him from something? Unlikely.

Link has returned, but he hangs back, watching them. The look on his face is familiar, and it takes her a moment to place it as the same look he wore Before, when the court poet wrote that verse of extended metaphor comparing Zelda to a summer squash as her hair was the same color and her temperament just as sweet. Link's frown wasn't a look of jealousy, but rather one of annoyance that the song was inaccurate: squash are more orange than blond and he prefers them more savory than sweet.

Link was and is an expert on squash.

"Perhaps she's back in the Highlands," Zelda says. "Are there other lost cultural sites around there?"

"You...you would go look for her? Are you an adventurer as well?"

"I don't know if I'd call it that, although I do travel a great deal."

"You are as modest as you are lovely!"

He gives her a look that makes her question his devotion to his lost love and wonder what she's gotten herself into. At that moment Link finally steps forward. He doesn't loom over the man with glasses or glare at him or reach possessively for Zelda. He's not even standing as close to her as he usually does. He just walks up and offers her a bored look like he's ready to move on. But the man with glasses startles and takes a few steps back. He tries to make himself look larger, more intimidating, and straightens enough that Zelda realizes how low he was leaning towards her.

She blinks at both of them, the man with glasses looking irritated for being interrupted, Link with his blank look as he directs a silent question towards her.

She clears her throat. "This gentleman was explaining that the love of his life has disappeared. I don't want to make any promises, but perhaps we could keep an eye out for her."

"Definitely don't make any promises," Link says. Then to the man he asks, "Would it work if we could get a picture of her and send you her regards? I don't know if we'll be able to bring her here."

"Any word from her would make my heart soar. Especially," he turns to Zelda and blushes, "any word delivered by someone so kind and capable. Perhaps...perhaps you shouldn't worry yourself. It sounds like a dangerous, difficult journey. Maybe...you could...stay here? I was just about to get dinner..."

For the first time, Zelda thinks about not even attempting to solve someone's problem.

Link cuts in to ask, "What will you give her in return?"

The man with glasses blinks like he forgot Link was there. "Ex-excuse me?"

"If she finds your missing vai and brings you news? What will you give her?"

Zelda says, "He doesn't have to—" As the man says, "I don't know if I have anything left to give. Nothing you'd be interested in anyway. Just...just my heart." He looks at Zelda again.

Link looks him up and down, then says, "How about your shoes?"

"Link!"

"My...I just bought these!"

Link shrugs. "Alright. We probably wouldn't have found her anyway. And if you don't care enough about the young lady's feet to give up your shoes, then there's just no hope for you."

"No, but—Oh."

"Don't listen to him," Zelda says. She gives him a kind smile, then stops herself as he might get the wrong impression. "We'll keep an eye out for her."

Zelda grabs Link's sleeve and drags him away, lowering her voice so no one can hear. "You are not stealing this man's boots. He's already been through enough."

The corner of Link's mouth twitches.

Zelda stops walking. She stares at him a long moment before her eyes widen.

He—He didn't. Surely he didn't.

But he definitely did.

"Link!"

"He deserved it! He honestly thought I wasn't up to finding the Eighth Heroine!" He gives an offended scoff. Because, according to Link, what's really irritating is that this person doubted his capabilities. Not that he was trying to woo away Link's—she again stumbles over what to call herself.

Link slips a hand around her waist, and he tugs her into walking again. "All I'm saying is that the boots fit you surprisingly well, and if you want a new pair in the same size, they'd be real easy to get."

"I can't believe you sometimes."

He shrugs.

Kass stands on the edge of the encampment, looking out at the desert. When they approach, his playing ceases. "Oh! I didn't expect to see you out here."

"How are you liking the bazaar?" she asks. She's going to ignore Link for a while.

"It's lovely and the food is delicious. But I must say, spending such a short time with my family has made me miss them all the more."

She pats his wing with a sympathetic smile. "They'll return soon." Then she pulls out the scroll for him. "Riju wrote you a message."

He has to slip his wing from the strap of his accordion and balance it precariously in order to read it. After watching him for a while, Zelda suspects Kass may need glasses. She's seen him squint at his sheet music, and he now squints at the letter.

"Excellent!" he says. "She has agreed to meet with me tomorrow to share what she knows of Champion Urbosa. That will be a tremendous help in finishing the song."

"How is your song going?"

He nods as if I'm thought, folding away Rijus letter. Then he turns back towards the distant peaks of the Gerudo Highlands. "Good, good. I'm inspired by the desert. It's magnificent, isn't it? Such vast expanses. Such brutal conditions. And yet here the Gerudo thrive."

"They are a strong people."

"And Urbosa was their Champion." He looks at her from the corner of his eye. Then he lowers his voice to avoid being overheard by the voe that still watch her from a distance. Neither Link nor Kass are doing anything to dissuade them. She supposes ignoring them is a good response.

Kass says, "I hesitate to ask, as it seems you don't wish to speak of your identity. But I would assume you have some stories about the Champion Urbosa."

Link does shift closer, as if expecting her to faint again. She swallows and looks out to the desert. She feels the heat rising from the sand to warm her face, and she tries to listen only to the wind and the brushing sound of the shifting sand, listening only to what was here Before, as if she can trigger a happy flashback.

The thought makes her chest seize in fear, and she turns back to the camp with her face flushed.

"Her laugh was like thick fruit syrup," she says. "She had gentle hands. Like Amali's. She would braid my hair for me and tell me all the gossip—silliness really, but things I needed to know to survive at court. She would also poke a finger in my ribs and shock me, just a little touch of lightning, if I got too cheeky. And then she would laugh and I would poke her back, only without the lightning."

She blinks, realizing her eyes are warm and swimming, realizing Link is hovering close. "I'm sorry. This is difficult for me. I still can't grasp...Sometimes I go to write a letter to her or to make a note in my journal to remind myself to ask her something in person. I write out the whole salutation before I remember. And even then, I remember there's no mail before I remember she's not there."

"Do you ever finish the letters?"

"No."

"You should."

"What would be the point?"

Kass smiles down at her and sets his hands against his accordion once more. "There's mail again."

With that, he begins to play.


	38. Chapter 38 Gerudo Desert

Link refuses to rent a sand seal when he can just catch one, and no arguing that he actually has to catch two will change his mind. He's at it for an hour, catching one seal only to have it duck away as soon as he lets go of it to catch another, catching another, then scaring off a third as he rushes towards it behind a sand seal. They could have walked there by now. Zelda heads back to town, rents one herself, and catches up with him.

"I almost had it," he shouts as they skate over the sand side-by-side, ten feet apart.

"I know."

A pod of sand seals scatters as they approach the spot on the map, and the blue glowing ring stands out against the pale sand, against the monochromatic landscape.

Link picks up speed and blasts through it, Zelda only a second behind as the blue glow shoots forward to form the next marker. She makes it her goal to keep up, and she takes the corners hard, swinging wide, driving the sand-seal harder to keep up. Two seal lengths behind. One seal length behind. Sand spews out behind her and behind Link in dusty waves, a thousand needles to her face and arms and a dry cloud that sucks every bit of moisture from her skin. As they swerve between ruins, she pushes out of his wake to come up beside him, racing parallel as columns flick by between them. As he flies through another blue marker, he catches her eye and grins, and she realizes that they're easily keeping pace with the challenge and he's going this fast to race _her_. She bends her knees and urges her seal faster, pushing ahead for a brief second before they hit another curve. She's on the outside track and at the end of it he comes out in front, bends low, and bursts into the straight away towards the final marker. She clenches her jaw, narrows her eyes and gives a shout of encouragement to her seal, swerving to the side and up a sand dune. She's airborne and bracing herself, and she barely keeps the shield from skipping out from under her as she lands and skips and flies past the finish line, just to the right of the marker, just a breath ahead of Link.

As the shrine rumbles and rises, he lets go of his seal and rolls through the sand. Zelda skids to a stop, stumbling a bit as she hops off her shield, but she manages to keep her feet. She offers him a hand to help him up, but once he grabs her wrist, he just pulls he down on top of him. With a squeak, she lands hard with her elbow in his stomach, and all the wind is knocked from him. As soon as he can breathe again, he's laughing. His hair is full of sand, and his skin is warm and dry. There's a thin layer of dust between his lip and hers when he pulls her down and she laughs at the chalky feel of it, which just gets him to kiss her more so she gets even more sand in her mouth.

She looks him in the eye from an inch away and smirks. "I beat you."

He gives her a goofy grin, and agrees, "You did."

"Because you let me win."

"You can't prove that."

"You let me win because you like me."

"Or maybe I just like the view from second place."

She makes sure to shove on him as she pushes herself upright.

The shrine has another electric puzzle, and she does a good job reigning in her enthusiasm, if she does say so herself. Maybe because she knows it exists, and maybe this one-with its metallic, climbable blocks-has fewer different ways to conduct the electricity. She's able to investigate one aspect more deeply: how far can the electricity jump without a conductive surface? How does the presence of the magnesis rune affect the flow of electricity?

She finds that it's simple to provide power and activate the switch, thus opening a door, but the difficult part comes in the fact that they then cannot reach the door as all the blocks they need to climb are dangerous to touch. She must rearrange the blocks, provide her and Link a safe path up, then find a way to arrange the blocks back so they'll power the switch while standing in an awkward position.

She steps toward a sparking block to see how it can move and how far, and Link snags her belt from behind, pulling her up short.

"I'm _fine_. I'm not any where near it. And even if I was, the current here is far less than what runs through the main control unit on Vah Naboris, and I survived every one of those shocks."

Link is oddly quiet at this, and she looks up from the slate expecting him to be frowning at her or giving her a blank stare intended to compel her to be more safety conscious. (As if Link would know what "safety conscious" looks like.)

Instead he looks dismayed. It's enough to get her to lower the slate. "What is it?"

"Naboris shocked you?"

"Yes, of course. They all did, actually, to some degree or another. And a few of the guardians. And the pool at the Shrine of Resurrection. But Vah Naboris was expectedly the most potent. It was the way of things running current through tech that had been buried for eons. Faulty wiring all over the place." She waves a hand. "But that was ages ago."

He's still frowning. "Did I—" He cuts himself off.

"Yes?"

"Did I—" He sigh. "Did I have something to say about this Before? I must have. Have we been having this argument for a hundred years?"

The shrine is cold, but she hasn't noticed until this second. Quietly, she says, "I was rarely up to my elbows in Sheikah technology after you came along. Most of my dealings with the Sheikah technology ended when you were promoted."

"When I was promoted?"

"Yes."

He slowly shakes his head. "I don't..."

She huffs and turns back to the slate, jabbing at icons at random. "I'd rather not discuss how I was trying to deactivate a defective guardian, only to have you pull me away, have it aim a honing beam at my chest, and then have you _destroy_ it! And suddenly the next day you were my knight escort and I was no longer allowed to be near any technology until the Sheikah declared it functional. No. We are not having the same argument, because there was no argument, because I was not consulted."

He's silent. The indignation and humiliation and shame and anger of that moment a hundred years ago flare in her chest as, at the same time, she feels immensely guilty for talking to him about the way he used to be. She feels guilty for how furious she was at him when he was only doing his job, when he turned out to be so steadfast and supportive and kind and loyal, and here she is _still_ upset.

He exhales loudly. "I'm telling you...that guy sounds miserable. I don't know what you saw in him."

It startles a laugh from her, and she turns to look up at him. He gives her a mock judging look that reminds her that the man in front of her has done nothing wrong. It makes her a bit bashful now that she lashed out. She reaches up and traces the leather of his baldric from the center of his chest to his shoulder. "He was very concerned for my well being."

He looks at her for a long moment, then reaches into his stores, pulls out the rubber fish head, and hands it to her.

She takes it. Then stores it away in one of her magically enhanced pouches. She lifts the slate again and walks a few careful steps away, ready to finally move this block.

"Now this is an argument that looks familiar."

Without looking back, she sing-songs, "Would you like to bribe me into wearing it?"

His answer is a very strong, very certain, "Yes."

#

His weight is a secure pressure atop her as he kisses her down into the pillows. They smile and hum against each other's lips, without any real reason except that they enjoy each other's company. They're unhurried and playful and she can thread her fingers through his hair and enjoy it.

One of his hands drags up her arm, stretching it up over her head before lacing his fingers through hers. He stretches her upward, her spine and arm lengthening until he's strung her taught like a bow. If he plucks her, she'll sing.

His hand trails back down her body, but she keeps her arm raised, giving him a long, straight length of bared skin. His thumb rubs circles into her flesh, fingers finding her soft spots, finding places she gives under his touch. He brushes teasingly close to the side of her breast, then caresses down her ribs and flank. Her leg slips from her skirt, and he pulls up her thigh so he can feel her, down to her calf, down until he encircles her able with his fingers.

She giggles, and he kisses up the sound. He's just traced the length of her, fingertip to foot, and he touched less than six inches of fabric as he did so. The thought makes her shiver.

He strokes back up, all the way up her body, setting the whole length of her alight until he tangles his fingers once again with hers, stretching her up another half inch more, until she gasps at the delicious way she's spread out beneath him. When he heads back down again, his kisses are deeper, their breathing harsher, his thumb more insistent.

When he reaches her ankle, he pulls away enough to take her in. Her hand falls away from his hair, from his shoulder, and the heated look he gives her has her dragging that hand up from her ribs to her collar bone, where she presses down to keep herself in check, to simulate the weight that has vanished from above her. And maybe she's breathing harder than she needs to, but her body rolls with every gasp, and his eyes follow the motion.

There's a deft shift of his grip, and then he's holding her knee from underneath with her calf draped over his bicep. She imagines. It would be so easy for him to slip that had upward, inside her skirt, his thumb rubbing deep circles the whole, whole way. She imagines. I t would be so so easy to hook her knee over his shoulder and drag him downward and close. She moans at the thought and closes her eyes. Her whole body sings, and she presses her hand tighter against her chest and her leg tighter against his arm to keep herself from squirming.

He hasn't moved. She opens her eyes, expecting him to be looking at her thoughtfully, as if he's come up with an even better idea. She opens her eyes, expecting him to tease her into begging him to kiss the inside of her knee, which she'll refuse and he'll love that she refuses and he'll kiss the inside of her knee.

Instead, he's not looking at her at all. He's gone absolutely still, looking back over his shoulder.

As if he's heard something.

She tries to get her breathing under control enough to listen, and props herself up on her elbows. Her pulse is throbbing and loud and demanding attention. She draws a breath to ask (she was going to whisper, she was) but he holds up a hand to still her.

A long moment eeks out of her every tensed muscle as they both hold absolutely still. He leans forward, and it's shocking how there's not even the quiet shift of fabric. He murmurs in her ear, so softly that it doesn't carry, so softly that it might be a dream. "Take the slate, go upstairs, and hide. Warp away if you have to."

Her stomach cramps in fear. He squeezes her once right above the knee, then whispers, "Go!" He's up so quickly it steals her breath. He moves fast and silent along the balcony, Master Sword in hand, towards Vah Naboris' central room and the lower level.

She snatches the slate from half under a mountain of pillows and runs, trying to move on her tiptoes so her toes don't slap against the cooling stone, hiking up her skirt with her free hand so it doesn't trip her or flap loudly as she runs. Her breathing is still not under control, and the shift in her heartbeat from arousal to panic is sickening.

The door at the other end of the balcony leads into the central room where the catwalk leads up toward the camel's top humps. She lingers in the doorway rather than dash through the main room, trying to adjust her vision to the darkness inside the Divine Beast. If Link is in the room, he's being too stealthy to see. A moment of looking, and she activates the slate, switches over to the stasis rune, and sweeps it across the area. Link lights up bright yellow, his back tight to the wall, his sword held so it doesn't catch the small amount of light there is. Even knowing he's there, she can't see him without the slate.

Then two figures move out from beneath one of the catwalks criss-crossing the central room. They stand out in bright yellow on the slate, the sharp curves of their sickles, their high pony tails, their masks when they turn to signal to one another. They move like shadows, shifting and wafting, and Zelda holds in a gasp. Fear seizes her throat.

The Yiga are aboard the Divine Beast.

They head away from her, towards the ramp up to her and Link's balcony. They'll have to pass Link to get to her. She presses the slate tight to her chest to block its light, sends up a prayer to the Goddess, and takes a slow step onto the walkway, trusting the darkness to hide her. She tries to move the way she saw the Yiga move, like slipping through water, then stilling. She's a trick of the mind. No one can see her.

No one can see her, because in the dark she can barely see the walkway under her feet. Her toes brush the edge and she stops herself from panicking, stops herself from gasping, from throwing out her arms for balance, from jerking backwards and drawing attention. She's holding her breath, and she'd be seeing spots if it wasn't so dark. She draws her foot back, turns to the left and moves slowly toward the doorway. She's so close that she has to hold herself back from running. She has to hold herself back from looking over her shoulder. She desperately wants to know the Yiga's progress. She's moving too slowly. They're going to catch her. They've already seen her!

Her foot touches the edge of the round doorway, and she lifts her foot higher than she needs to to cross the threshold. She doesn't want to stub her toe. She steps over the edge and lets herself duck out of sight. Her heart pounds and she releases a slow, slow breath, parting her lips so she barely whistles. She realizes that she barely breathed as she crossed the bridge. She wants to gasp, wants to hyperventilate. Her vision would be spotty if it wasn't already dark.

She lifts the slate and peeks out the doorway. Link has not moved. The Yiga are only now at the foot of the ramp on which Link stands. Maybe she didn't take that long to cross after all. They're still moving slowly, and she takes that to mean they didn't see her.

They definitely haven't seen Link.

He barely shifts his sword before he darts forwards and strikes the first Yiga, taking him entirely by surprise. He makes a stifled noise and doubles over the Master Sword, and Link plants a foot against the Yiga's chest and kicks him off the end of his sword, sending him flying backward into his partner, who stumbles under the weight. Link takes a flying leap into the pile of Yiga, ready to plunge a sword into the second Yiga's chest, but the Yiga is fast. He rolls out from under his comrade and vanishes. Link stands, tensed and ready for the Yiga to reappear, dodging suddenly to the side as the Yiga poofs back into existence, sickle at the ready. His laugh reverberates through the room, and Zelda feels sick as Link blocks two swings of the Yiga's blade and makes a lunge of his own. Two quick slashes and the Yiga stumbles, darts back, then falls into a crouch beside his fallen comrade. He takes his friend by the wrist and they vanish in a flash of light and a flurry of paper scraps.

Link stands over the body. The only sound his huffing breath. Something in the air keeps him tense. Something in the air keeps Zelda's fingers in a death grip around the slate.

Then there's a laugh. Deeper than the last. It rumbles like thunder and a Yiga appears from beneath her. He's head and shoulders taller than his lithe associates, his chest like a barrel and his sword longer than Zelda is tall. He towers over Link, who lowers himself into a fighting stance. The blademaster only walks slowly forward.

"You don't belong here," Link growls.

The blademaster continues to stalk forward, and Zelda assumes that he isn't going to speak before he surprises her with a voice that round and deep, almost musical in its laughter. "On the contrary. I think I do belong here. My people helped build this weapon. And when they were done, after the Divine Beasts showed themselves to be everything they claimed to be and more, then the people of Hyrule were afraid. Your people sent us into exile. Your people buried these works of wonder." He comes to a stop, a good twenty feet from Link. "We won't let the Divine Beasts be buried again. We will no longer stay in exile. Hyrule will rue the day they banished us."

Zelda holds back being sick. She child's the slate so hard her fingers cramp. The Yiga want the Divine Beasts.

The blademaster lifts his blade. "As Vah Naboris' future pilot, I order you to give me the Sheikah Slate, and I'll spare your life."

Link doesn't bother answering. He just throws himself forward so they clash together with the rhythmic clang of steel against steel. Link gets a few hits in against his armor, and he lazily drags his sword back, telegraphing the huge swipe of his arm that sends a slice of wind through the air. Link backflips over the swipe, and rushes in for more blows that have the blademaster's back arching. The blademaster jumps away, the movement unnatural, and he brings his hands together in a gesture she's seen Impa do a hundred years ago when she was meditating. A chant doubles and triples as it echos against the walls. There's a building roar like the groans of lost souls. Link braces himself.

She gasps as the floor cracks. A fissure opens, glowing red, a column of steam rising from it as it burrows towards Link at terrifying speed, and there's no way it should be able to put a dent in Vah Naboris, and yet.

at the last second, Link jumps, pulls out his paraglider, and the steam launches him high. When he's over the Yiga, he drops, landing almost directly atop the blademaster with his sword ready, the Yiga is thrown back and Link tears his sword from the ground, and the Yiga launches a final attack, but Link is faster. It's like time has sped up. He wails again and again on the Yiga, and when the blademaster drops his massive sword and stumbles back, he's clutching at his side. He's huffing loudly behind his mask. He lifts a shaking hand into the air and snaps his fingers. He disappears in a flash and a flurry of paper.

Link holds tense and ready for a long moment. Zelda can't breathe waiting for the next attack. Then Link is running, sheathing his sword as he bolts up the ramp. Zelda twists back into the dark little hallway and collapses against the wall beside the door, her back to the cold stone, the slate rising and falling where it's pressed to her chest. The pounding of her heart mixed with the pounding of Link's feet as he flies through the doorway, and she has to reach out and grab his arm so he doesn't bolt right past.

He grabs the hilt of his sword, but stops when he sees it's her-when he recognizes the touch of her hand, the rhythm of her breathing, because it's too dark to really see. He reaches for her as she reaches for him, enveloping each other.

She gasps, "They want Vah Naboris."

"They can't have her."

"They want the slate."

"They can't have that either."

She hugs him tight and presses her forehead and the bridge of her nose into his neck. His sweat smells different from what she's used to. It's an anxious sweat. She presses a kiss to his skin, and it tastes different too.

He squeezes her tighter. "Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"Gerudo Town where we'll be safe. Tomorrow, we're taking care of our Yiga problem."


	39. Chapter 39

Author's Note:

It's spelled HEBRA?! No, it's not. That's some Berenstain Bears level nonsense! "Heb-ra." Ugh! I hate it. The same day this was pointed out to me, my mom was diagnosed with Covid, and GUESS WHICH ONE I'M OBSESSING OVER. Sometimes, I just angrily look up from my computer, shout the word "HEBRA!" and then mutter to myself for a while.

So, a sincere thank you to the person who pointed this out, because this is honestly the most helpful coping mechanism I've found so far. Not mad at you. Mad at the _multiple games_ that have _manipulated me_ into transposing a B and an R.

#

#

#

They sneak up on the Yiga Hideout from the Highlands, heading steadily downhill. It turns out that Link not only has sand boots, but also snow boots, and he's entirely unapologetic that they're in his possession. They argue about Zelda coming. And she eventually does. They're only there to do reconnaissance, and he knows that Dorian hid in this area for days without the Yiga noticing. It's a bit too cold for them. But then again, yesterday he would have said the Divine Beasts were safe, and now they clearly aren't.

They slow as they near the back entrance to the hideout. It's a wide, round space encircled by high walls of the mountains. There's a tunnel-like entrance to their base, a bottomless hole in the ground, and three dozen Yiga.

Zelda and Link crouch low to the ground, then approach the edge of the cliff on their bellies, peeking down at the Yiga without being seen. Foot soldiers and Blademasters sit cross-legged on the ground in a loose semicircle. They're back a bit from the edge of the pit, spread so they're between Zelda and the hideout.

"What are they doing?"

One of the Blademasters stands before the group at the edge of the hole. A huge, spiked ball like Zelda has seen in the shrines sits before him. He takes his time just standing there, then draws his hands together-the way the Blademaster did the night before, the way Impa did so long ago. He holds the pose, and, even from far away, she can see the tension in his back, feel it in the air. The spiked ball lifts off the ground as if controlled by the magnesis rune. It forms a wide, slow circle in the air before coming to rest again. The assembled crowd cheers. The Blademaster falls out of his pose to rest his hands on his knees. When he's caught his breath, he straightens.

"My name is Kanna!"

The crowd cheers again. Someone stands up and writes Kanna's name on a wide stretch of fabric held in place by a light wooden frame. There are already two names on there with room for many more. Beside the names are three distinct columns. Kanna takes a seat. Another Blademaster stands up and takes his place.

"Link," Zelda whispers. "I think they're having a tournament. They're announcing their intention to participate." She's aghast at how similar the process is to the one she developed with the Rito. The Yiga should create their own method! How dare they copy hers! They even stole her sign idea!

"They've been watching us," Link says.

Well, yes, that's upsetting too.

"Why are they setting up a tournament?" he asks.

"To pick a Champion for Vah Naboris?"

"But why when they can't even control Naboris?"

"Hubris," she says.

They watch in silence for a while more. Finally, Link asks silently for the slate. He sets up the magnesis rune, second guesses himself, then shakes his head and goes for it. As the next Blademaster focuses, his hands drawn together to concentrate his power, Link takes hold of the spiked ball. He strains to hold the ball down as the Yiga tries to lift it. The Blademaster visibly struggles, his whole body shaking as he fights the force of the magnet. Link bites his lip, his fingers tight around the slate. The Yiga's groan echoes through the canyon, and when he finally takes a break to catch his breath, the ball thunks deeper into the ground. This makes it even harder for him to lift it when he tries once more. The Yiga in the crowd shift and mutter among themselves. This Blademaster's poor performance is both surprising and embarrassing.

Link smirks.

The Blademaster doesn't want to sit down. He doesn't want to give up and return to the crowd in defeat. But after the third try, he has to. The master of ceremony approaches and escorts him away.

Link does the same for the next prospective Champion, who throws a punch at the master of ceremonies when his turn is at its end. By now the crowd is fully atwitter. One failure is something to talk about, but _two_ is an event.

A few of them get up and check it. Shoving it to see if it rocks. Kicking at it without result.

Link hands the slate to Zelda and scoots back from the edge enough that he's not visible when he sits up and changes clothes.

She hisses, "What are you doing?"

"Riju said that the Yiga stole an orb from her, and as I get it from the Yiga so they don't have it, I can do whatever I want with it. Then the trial is to throw an orb in in a hole. So I'm going to sneak into the hideout while they're all distracted and throw the orb in the pit."

"You're going to throw an ancient heirloom artifact into a pit."

"That's the challenge."

"You're going to...wait, you're leaving?"

"I'll be right back. You keep them occupied." He looks at her seriously for a brief moment. "If they see you, warp away before they get up here. Do it fast. They can teleport."

"But how-"

She trails off as she gets a look at his Sheikah gear, and he looks down at himself when he sees her staring at him.

"I bought a new set when we were in Kakariko."

"And dyed it red."

"This is _crimson_. And look." He puffs out his chest to show off the upside-down eye across his front. He jerks his chin towards the pit. "You're up."

She scrambles to activate the magnesis rune and hold down the spiked ball as the next Blademaster takes his place. She has no idea why they're bothering. Disrupting their tournament seems more petty than effective. "That's not what their uniforms look like."

"They won't notice." He keeps his hair up in its Gerudo tie, but wraps his lower face. "Most likely they won't even notice I'm here."

He can't kiss her with his mask on, and she's struggling to not let the ball move as this potential Blademaster starts shaking it back and forth to try to get it unstuck. Instead, Link squeezes her calf, then sets off around the edge of the cliff until he's behind the group, at which point he drops to the canyon floor and vanishes into the hideout.

The Blademaster is insistent in shaking the spiked ball loose. It's hard for Zelda to keep up with the constant changes in direction. It's as if he knows he's fighting against _something_ even if he has no idea it's her.

She shifts suddenly to the left, the direction she's pulling it, and the ball flies loose. With the strength of a cannon ball, it blasts a hundred feet across the arena and embeds in the canyon wall.

The Yiga stare. The ball tumbles out of the crater in which it's embedded and thinks to the ground.

The crowd gives a lackluster, confused cheer. He did move the ball, after all. But the master of ceremonies shakes his head and mines so even from a distance, Zelda knows what he's saying. The ball has to move in a circle.

The Blademaster tries again, and this time Zelda lets him without interference, assuming that he will guide the ball back to center before making the attempt, at which point she'll hold the ball down again. Instead, it seems the Blademaster assumes there will be a hearty resistance to his lifting the ball. He tugs on it with far more telekinesis than necessary, and it comes careening back at him.

He's thrown across the space, and is dragged off by a pair of footsoldiers. Thankfully, they lay him down off to the side rather than bring him into the hideout. They immediately leave him and go back to watching the tournament.

The next Blademaster steps up. He looks almost hesitant until someone jeers. Then he throws his head back and marches up to the ball. Zelda fights with him for a moment, then just...deactivates the rune.

The ball launches straight up into the air, where it hovers for a long moment, almost as thought the Blademaster has caught it. But he hasn't. He tries to as it hurtles back down at him, but he doesn't have the focus and has to dive to the side to avoid being part of the new crater in the ground.

The crowd is now in a minor uproar, and it's at that moment that Link slips out of the hideout with a huge orb held up over his head, and Zelda breathes a sigh of relief. Link reassesses the situation, realizing he can't walk through the Yiga and drop the orb in the pit. And then a shrine will probably rise out of the ground twenty feet away. He looks around, then stashes the orb behind a nearby frog statue. He can come back for it when the Yiga head back inside after writing off this tournament as a bad idea. And maybe there _is_ a reason they've been disrupting the challenge.

He hurries off to scale the canyon wall and return to her. But then he pauses. She can see the gears move in his mind, and she shakes her head vigorously in hopes he'll see her and not do whatever it is he's planning on doing.

He turns around and walks straight into the middle of the Yiga.

They fall silent. They look at him in confusion, but don't draw their weapons. She can feel his attention on her even if she can't see his eyes. She can tell he's trying to tell her something, but she has no idea what and whatever it is she does not want to do it. He takes the recently vacated spot of the last perspective Champion, then he draws his hands together in an exaggerated mimicry of the Blademasters.

"Oh no," she hisses, fumbling to get the slate ready. "Oh no no no no no."

The Yiga are growing agitated. Apparently the trial is Blademasters only, and Link clearly doesn't have the build. One of the footsoldiers stands to stop him.

The spiked ball rises easily from the crater into the air.

There's a silence as the ball moves in a circle, Link drawing wide arcs in the air to mark its passing. When it's completed two full circles, it settles once more into the crater.

The silence continues when he's done, broken only when he shouts, "My name is Harson!"

The master of ceremonies hesitates, shrugs, then writes the name on the board. With every eye on him, Link walks back into the hideout and is gone for half an hour, during which Zelda stops one last Blademaster from even slightly moving the spiked ball. She refuses to look at Link when he reappears, having climbed up and around the hideout.

The master of ceremonies announces the date of the first trial, and the dampened festivities disperse. Everyone is confused: dejected that there are only three contestants, but also brimming with excitement about the mysterious stranger and how poorly all the Blademasters did.

"I told you the disguise would work," Link whispers.

She spins on him and hisses, " _What_ possessed you?!"

He shrugs. "Everyone else gets to be in a tournament."

She doesn't speak to him until the arena below has cleared and they slip down to collect the orb, throw it in the pit ( _throw it in the pit!_ ) and enter the last shrine that rises from the ground.

#

The final shrine is ridiculous. She's not sure if she's upset about the lack of electricity or if her irritation with Link is dampening the experience. The task is to use an apparatus to rotate a cube full of colored balls, and count how many of each color there are. It would be easy except that multiple times she counts three balls and then Link starts counting out loud from one and she loses track. Multiple times they disagree if they've counted one of the balls or not. She threatens to complete the shrine through trial and error, testing every last combination, if he doesn't give her some space.

When they solve the puzzle and the gate opens, she groans at the sight of an additional puzzle to reach a chest. It's not worth it. But Link says this one will be easier and uses the magnesis rune to rip off the bottom of the box, sending all the balls crashing to the floor. It is easier this way. The prize in the chest is still not worth it.

#

Riju presents the potential Champions on the steps of the palace in the main plaza.

Barta is adventurous and daring, always running off to investigate and coming back with wild tales about fighting her way out of the Yiga stronghold, exploding a large portion of moblin scaffolding in Gerudo Canyon, and making her way all the way to the great skeleton or the peak of Mt. Granajh. She's not the best at following orders, but maybe she's do better in a position where she can do her own thing.

Deltan is a soldier recently returned from her quest for a husband in Greater Hyrule. Her quest was unsuccessful, and she was rejected by a record twenty-one voe. Actually, no one knows if it's a record, because it's not the thing people usually keep count of, but no one has ever heard a higher number, so she must be "the best." Link seems genuinely surprised to learn that she has other skills besides moping. But she does. She's also the best molduga hunter around. Apparently, that fact scared off several Hylian men.

Lashley has been a gate guard for the past ten years. She's the best at throwing out voe, which she does with excessive style. She used to watch Vah Naboris stomp around in her clouds of sand and thunder. Now with the Divine Beast powered down on Spectacle Rock, Lashley has come to realize that she...misses it. She feels like she understands it somewhat, and wishes that could be reunited.

Tali is the sandseal rally undefeated champion. She trains the seals and breeds the seals and races the seals. In so doing, she is the most athletic woman Zelda has ever seen. She's nearly impervious to the heat. And she has a studious dedication to her craft that will serve her well in learning to control Vah Naboris.

A great crowd has gathered to watch and cheer for the competitors, and Zelda is glad they have a spot tucked away to the side so they don't have to be squeezed in with everyone. One by one, the contestants step up a few stairs and face Riju as she announced them to deafening cheers. She presents them each with a pair of arm guards of fine leather and gold and a red sash with the symbol of the Gerudo people. She knots the ends together and drapes each sash with ceremony over each contestant's head and left arm so it cuts across the body from shoulder to hip. The people cheer again and the contestant returns to her place a few steps below, where they face the crowd.

Barta is up first. Then, as soon as Deltan steps up, Barta shifts the sash around, pulling it wider and slipping it down so it sits around her waist. She redoes the knot to make it tighter, the fabric stretched wide over one hip, the knot tight on her waist on the other side, the ends draping loose down her thigh. As soon as Lashley steps up, Deltan slips the sash down her shoulder, adjusts the knot, and wraps it around her chest a few times. The loose ends trail down behind her from the knot at her back. As soon as it's Tali's turn to step up, Lashley takes the sash all the way off, unknots it into a long rectangle, pulls the fastening from her hair to shake it loose, and then wraps her hair tight to her scalp before piling it on top and covering it in an sculptural, elaborate knot. Tali retakes her position and stands straight and tall, almost bored. She does not alter the sash's position at all.

Riju raises her arms and lifts her voice. "My people! I give you your perspective Champions!"

The crowd pulls poppers that shoot confetti and streamers into the air. It's like a snow of red paper and sparkling gold, and it reminds her first of the paper that explodes from the Yiga when they teleport. Then the light hits it just right and it reminds her of malice. She can smell the sulfur. She can hear it's breathing in the crowd's cheers.

She closes her eyes and tries to breathe. Link slips his hand into hers and she squeezes his fingers so tight that their bones grind together. She seizes his hand and focuses on its presence-solid, and real, and here with her in the now.


	40. Chapter 40 Gerudo Desert

For the first Gerudo challenge, each contestant will fight a molduga. The problem is that the four moldugas are in different locations. Therefore, they will spend the night at the oasis, fight one of the nearby moldugas in the morning, then the other one in the evening, then relocate further into the desert to fight the next tow the next day. Riju is disappointed that fewer people are planning to attend the second day, so she arranges to have a handful of reporters and rumor mongers there the second day. This causes problems when people decide she's showing favoritism to the reporters. Then she has problems when people decide that Riju is clearly playing favorites with the order the contestants will fight. She's clearly showing favoritism to Barta and Tali, who will fight on the first day before a crowd.

Riju rubs her forehead, and Zelda teaches her a breathing exercise that she used to use.

"Does it help?" Riju asks.

"It...for a few minutes, it takes your mind away from the problem at hand," she says.

"A diplomatic way of saying _no_. Okay. Teach me."

The Gerudo have constructed stands into the side of the Southern Oasis Plateau. There's a clear view of the molduga's territory, and the molduga burrowing around. The oasis has water, and shade, and vendors selling food, and vendors selling drinks, and vendors selling flags to cheer on your favorite contestant, and vendors selling telescopes for better viewing. Zelda and Link have great seats near enough to Riju to still be under the shade of her canopy and far enough away that no one asks Zelda to fix any last-minute hiccups.

Barta is up first. She's arranged her outfit to better accommodate her chosen way of wearing her prospective Champion sash around her hips. She marches into the Molduga's territory with a thunder spear in her hand, with a scimitar strapped to her hip and a shield on her back. It's hard to tell if her approaching footsteps get the molduga's attention, or if it's the deafening cheer from the crowd.

She braces herself as the beast comes barreling forward. She stands there and waits. And waits. As it rushes closer. And closer. Zelda clutches at the bench on which she sits.

The second before the beast burst vertically out of the sand, Barta leaps, using her spear to leverage herself into a back flip. The beast brushes the tips of her hair, it's so close to her. She lands and flies forward, stabbing into the beast's hide with the thunder spear. The molduga cries out, and flops to the sand, where she rams the spear into its flank, so it twitches and groans, sparking with electricity, while she wails on it with her scimitar, re-stabbing it with her spear to keep it shocked and down.

She does not finish it off before it burrows back under the sand, and this is the most dangerous part. Her body becomes liquid, and she slides down an eddy of sand, holding absolutely still. The molduga rides under her, searching her out, and she rides the wave of sand up and over its body without a twitch or a flail or any sort of sound. The beast looks this way and that, then wanders away, moving a bit slower now that it's so injured.

She doesn't let it get too far before she hops up, her feet light on the sand, and Zelda notices only then that her feet are bare. Somehow that's more shocking than battling the monster. Barta stomps her foot, and the molduga pauses. Without removing her shield from her back, she reaches back and smacks it three times with her spear. She shouts a vocalization, dances a hop-stepped war dance, then slams her spear blade first into the sand.

The monster rushes her again, and once again she waits. But this time when she jumps away, she leaves the spear buried in the sand, and shortly it's buried inside the beast's mouth. Its cry is like a deep buzz, like a blast of a brass horn. It jumps and twitches, its body fizzling with electricity. It can't close its mouth. It can't move its tongue to dislodge the spear. as the spear works on it from the inside, Barta finishes it from the outside with her scimitar.

As the crowd cheers and Barta collects her spear and an assortment of other treasurers from the belly of the beast, Link leans into Zelda's side. "She's better at that than I am."

"I'll admit, it is nice to see it done right," she says.

He grins at her, always pleased for her good-natured ribbing.

She pats his cheek and says, "I'm sure you'll be victorious in your own Champion tournament."

He grows slightly more serious. "What time is it?"

She checks the slate. "Time to go."

They rise from their seats, and Riju waves at them. "Good luck!" she calls. "Try to make it back for Tali's battle, if you can."

"Try my best," Link says. He throws her a lazy salute, and they head up the stairs attached to the levels of seating.

The oasis is crowded with Gerudo and tourists, over-analyzing the battle and getting lunch before relocating. They manage to find a quiet spot from which to warp, and twenty minutes later, Link is back in his disguise and She's kissing his cheek for good luck. He leaves her on the cliff edge overlooking the stadium behind the Yiga hideout and slips to the ground unnoticed until he's in their midst. He startles quite a few people.

The Yiga's first challenge is an archery competition. The crowd sprawls lazily in the sand. On one side are targets, and spaced every thirty feet away from them are red lines drawn in the sand. The targets are human shaped silhouettes, two of which are inexpertly drawn caricatures of Sheikah and one of which is an inexpertly drawn caricature of Link. They've drawn him with yellow hair sticking up every direction and small, blue eyes with angry eyebrows. He has a full set of spiked teeth. All the targets' arms stick awkwardly out to the side, and they hold their straight legs in a wide stance, so they look like giant gingerbread men. Red circles mark their hearts and foreheads.

Link, of course, sets himself in front of the target that looks like him.

The contestants stand behind the first red line and aim duplex bows. The master of ceremonies shouts, "Fire!" and all six of the contestants' arrows embed themselves in a targets' heart. They shoot again, and six arrows find homes in the targets' heads. For the third shot, Link slips an extra finger between the two notched arrows, so one of his arrows lodges itself between the two already in his forehead. The other shreds through one of the arrows already sunk into his heart.

Zelda cringes and has to look away for a moment, overwhelmed by sudden nausea. Link with three arrows in his heart. Link with a dozen laser sights on his chest, his eyebrows drawn and angry in determination. She lowers her forehead to the stone where she lies on her belly. It's overly warm against her skin, drawing her back into her body. She looks down again, and Link is so proud of himself as he falls back to the next line, that she focuses on that-on the real Link instead of the horrible drawing of how the Yiga see him.

The arrows are removed from the targets, and the archers fire again. This time the Yiga contestants each land one arrow where it belongs and one a few inches off the mark. Still deadly, but fewer points. Link sinks every arrow, and again her stomach twists. She decides she's only going to watch Link. The way he stretches one arm over his head, grabbing his elbow and pulling. The way he scuffs his boots against the ground before setting his stance. His movements are so distinctive, so familiar, that it's shocking the Yiga don't recognize him.

They move back to the third line, where the Yiga start to truly make mistakes. The duplex bows are good for mid-range battles, but they don't have the power of Link's more preferred bows. The Yiga on Link's right lands both arrows around his target's heart, so they frame the red dot instead of hitting it. He does the same again around the bullseye on the Sheikah's forehead, except that pair is also slightly too low. The Yiga on the left seems to have given up aiming both arrows. He sends one wide by a good handspan, while the other finds its mark in the Sheikah's heart. When he aims at the head, one hits home, but the other is so wide that it misses the target completely, earning him his first strike. Link hits them all, pulling back on the bow so hard that she can see that he's clenching his jaw in the way he holds his neck. All his arrows hit the bull's eyes, but He doesn't try to be fancy aiming two arrows at both targets simultaneously. For the third shot, he aims at the head, and embeds both arrows within the red circle.

They fall back again for a fourth round, and the Yiga are out of their element. On the first shot, the Blademaster on the left doesn't aim high enough to account for the arrow's arc. One arrow hits the target's knee, the other embeds in the dirt-his second strike. He gets his third (and fourth if anyone was counting) when he overcompensates and aims too high for the head, so they sweep over the target completely. He slams his bow to the ground and stalks off.

The Yiga on the right also misses the target's head, one arrow flying over the target's shoulder, the other burying itself dead center in the Sheikah's throat, earning him a round of cheers. He just aims for the target's chest on the third shot, lodging both arrows in random places in its torso.

One of the two arrows that Link aims at his own heart is a bit low, and he lowers his bow to frown at it. He takes his time with the second and third shots, hitting the bull's eye with every arrow.

They fall back to 150 feet for the fifth round. While Link takes his time setting up his shot, focusing his breathing, willing enough power into the arrow to cross the distance, the Blademaster goes for it, and both his arrows clatter into the dust.

Link gets to finish out the round. Even though he's well ahead of his competition, he still takes his shots with annoying patience and seriousness. He puts so much force behind his shots that he's visibly sweating, and the arrows splinter the already weakened wood around his heart and forehead. On the third shot, his arrows punch a hole through his chest, causing one of them to fall loose. He's clearly frustrated with his performance, and glares daggers at the ruined picture of himself as the assembled Yiga cheer.

#

They get back to the Gerudo tournament just as Tali is walking out onto the sand. While the oasis is still the central hub of activity, these seats are closer to this mulduga's hunting grounds, set in three short arcs of stadium seating. Most of the seats are long benches, raised one behind the other, but Riju has a throne-like chair, set slightly apart in a break between two benches, Buliara standing at attention beside her. The last open seats are on the bench closest to the chief. Zelda slips into the seat, with Link trying to be unobtrusive at her side. He ducks down as if there's a possibility that he's blocking someone's view.

Riju leans forward, apparently glad to have some company. She asks in a quiet voice, "How did it go?"

Link rocks his hand in a so-so gesture. Zelda rolls her eyes and says, "He won handily."

Riju says, "Excellent," and sits back. She keeps talking in such a way that makes Zelda think she hasn't spoken to anyone conversationally today. "This isn't Tali's strong suit. I expect she'll go about it the traditional way."

"There's a traditional way?" Zelda asks.

Riju smirks. "Watch."

Tali crashes her thunder spear against the shield on her back. "Eh! Eh! Ouu!" Her feet stomp the ground in the same dance that Barta did, the movements slightly wider this time as she windmills her arms to clap her hands and honor the sun. Tali is wearing shoes, her candidate sash still cutting across her form from shoulder to hip, but it's tighter now, the loose ends tucked into her belt. Her hair is a red halo around her head. She does not remove her sunglasses.

The molduga charges forward, and she sets her feet, adjusts her hold on her spear. As the monster bursts the surface beneath her, she shifts her stance and grabs onto the beast's face, riding it skyward instead of being thrown. For a second, Zelda thinks she's misplaced her feet, she's at such a strange angle on the side of the molduga's face. At the apex of their flight, she hefts her spear, and stabs it into the molduga's eye.

It cries out as it falls, and Tali sweeps her shield from her back, banging it against the protruding butt of the spear, hammering it deeper, deeper, deeper. The monster roars with every hit, and it's clear in the change of timbre of its cry when the spear breaks through to its brain. It crashes to an awkward heap, paralyzed, electricity flickering over its head. Tali leaves the spear in place but climbs higher onto his head, standing above it between its eyes. She takes her scimitar in hand and stabs downward, then she falls through the puff of purple smoke that erupts around her as the monster vanishes.

The crowd cheers, and Riju leans in as she claps, talking across where Buliara is standing guard between them. "That was a clean kill. Not fancy, but proficient."

Link leans forward to talk across both Zelda and Buliara. "Who do I get to teach me how to ride it like that?"

Riju's face lights. Zelda turns to glare at him.


	41. Chapter 41, Gerudo Desert

Either the Yiga are copying Zelda's tournament schedule again by holding their second event in the evening, or they realized a bit late that if the challenge ends as the sun goes down, they can then have a party. She tries not to be too irritated about their plagiarism, because it actually fits in with their schedule a bit better. They can watch the final two Gerudo contestants fight their moldugas before they have to leave for the Yiga hideout. Riju is overly-accommodating, shifting the last battle forward by a half hour, then looking pleased with herself as her organizers scramble to follow through on her orders.

Zelda thinks this might be an abuse of power, but Link just thanks her and then the two of them huddle together to guess at what the Yiga's next challenge might be and if Link should squeeze any training in during the down time between molduga battles. In the secret quest to become the Yiga Champion, Riju is Link's biggest fan. If they sold pennants with his face on them (like they did of the Gerudo contestants), Riju would have one. Zelda's waiting for the moment Riju announces she's going to come with them to watch the proceedings, perched above the action on her belly beside Zelda.

She insists they sit close to her again so she can dish about all the contestants. Up first is Deltan, and this challenge is her time to shine. Riju bounces in her seat. "I have no idea what she's going to do. This is so exciting! Oh, and look at her. She looks so confident. She really needs this pick-me-up."

Deltan marches onto the sand armed like everyone else, but on her way she chops down and picks up a voltfruit, as if she might have a picnic. When she's in range, she does what Zelda now knows is the traditional molduga calling dance, slapping her spear against her shield and stomping her feet and singing, "Eh! Eh! Ouu!" Her dance is more sinuous than the others, her song more melodic, as if she's done it more than a handful of times. The only thing that makes it less than hypnotic is the voltfruit in her hand. As the molduga turns in interest, then charges forward, she twirls her spear with a flourish and tosses it, so it stabs it into the ground ten feet away. She then tosses the volt fruit high, high in the air, and while it's flying she takes a huge leonine leap to catch the spear without her toes brushing the ground. The leap and catch send her spinning around the spear once. Then, in a feat of athleticism, she holds herself there, one leg wrapped around the spear shaft for support. She's not touching the sand at all.

The voltfruit lands behind her and rolls away, it's odd shape causing it to bounce and skid as it rolls.

The molduga roars forward, and Deltan holds still. Then it charges past her, chasing the voltfruit and the mimicry of running feet. It swims close to the surface, hopping to chase her down rather than burst up beneath her. It's about half way past her when she sets her feet delicately to the ground, stabs the thunder spear into the monster's flank, and holds on for dear life.

They take off together across the sand, the molduga howling in rage. It slows and the wave of sand over it falls away, revealing the shape of the monster. As it slows, Deltan is no longer thrown out behind it, but she lowers her feet to the sand and tucks her shield underneath until she's surfing beside it. She pulls out her scimitar, and carves, a great, thick slash in the beast's side. She works her way forward like a mountain climber, sword and spear and sword and spear acting as handholds. She cuts deep every yard, and the monster rides even higher out of the sand to keep the dirt out of the wounds. They skid in winding circuits around the monster's territory, sand flying in their wake.

The molduga doesn't want to submerge again. It starts to roll, lifting its injured side into the air. Deltan tucks up her feet and slips her shield onto her back, she rides as the molduga rolls until she's lifted and standing atop it, the wind whipping her hair and the loose ends of her contestant sash out behind her.

The crowd cheers, the Deltan pennants flapping from flailing arms. Deltan waits on her next move, riding the monster in a wide, quick circle, until she can time it to so she's right in front of the crowd.

Tucking the scimitar away, she yanks the spear from the molduga's flank. She lowers to a crouch, then runs, throwing herself at the monster's fin, kicking herself up into a flying back flip. The molduga rushes beneath her, speeding under her flight. For a moment she seems suspended, the ends of her sash thrown out behind her like wings. When she lands, it's with the thunder spear buried deep in the molduga's side, aimed perfectly at its heart. Electricity bursts with such a crackling intensity that Zelda can taste it in the air.

The moldgua heaves, its wake of sand sailing past it, its back arching as Deltan clings to her spear. Then she's falling as the monster explodes into a puff of smoke. She lands on one knee, her spear thrown out behind her.

The crowd explodes in their excitement. "Oh, that was wonderful!" Riju says. She's clapping politely as she has done for everyone, but her face is split in glee that makes the gesture pointless. "Truly impressive. But she doesn't look any happier, does she?"

"She doesn't," Link says. And it's true: Deltan is the least excited person within a mile in every direction.

Link shakes his head and turns to Zelda. He doesn't look overly-enthusiastic either.

"What is it?" she asks.

"I feel even worse now about how I did with that big one."

"It was much larger than these."

"I've fought several of the smaller guys. No problem. You're going to have to believe me on that."

"I do."

He gives her a look, and she laughs, reaching up to pat his cheek. "I really do believe that you're very good at killing monsters. I've seen you take on much worse than the modulking."

"That almost makes it worse."

The crowd starts to disperse for lunch, but Riju reclines back in her seat to wait until the crowd on the stairways thin. "I think the next Yiga challenge will be a foot race," she says.

Link says, "I'd expect hand-to-hand combat, but there's only three of us. They couldn't make a good bracket."

Riju shakes her head. "The Yiga wouldn't do a bracket. That's too structured. It'd just be a free-for-all."

"I don't know," Zelda says. "The Rito didn't have a free-for-all brawl, so it probably won't occur to them. I predict the next challenge will be to shoot at Dinraal again."

Link smirks. "You're never going to forgive them."

"Why on earth would I forgive them? They support Calamity Ganon and have tried to kill both of us multiple times."

"But you're not mad about that. You're mad they're doing a tournament and stealing your ideas."

She huffs. "To be fair, I'm also mad that _you entered it_."

"Why?" Riju asks. "That was a great idea. Now he'll know all the details of their plans to attack Vah Naboris. He can tell us when and from what direction and how many of them there will be. We can have six squads waiting for them."

"I can make sure you're safe and far away from the battle," he adds.

"And, if we know their timeline, we can make sure a Gerudo pilot is installed before they try to pair her with one of their yahoos."

"I'm a bit worried about that," Link says. "They're doing a second challenge today. You're just finishing up the first and then taking a day off."

"And thus, your very important job of delaying them," Riju says serenely.

Their plan actually does makes sense, and it's good that Link _has_ a plan rather than just being his usual rambunctious, nosy self, and it's sweet that he's doing all this to protect her and Vah Naboris. But she can't get past how this plan seems to have developed _after_ he decided he was going to be the Yiga Champion.

"I am going to have lunch," Riju announces. "Care to join me?"

"Maybe in a bit," Link says. "I might...practice running in sand."

"Ha! Well, don't wear yourself out." She stands and straightens her skirt before she and Buliara head down the stairs.

They wait until she's out of ear shoot before Link leans closer. "They're not going to have a Gerudo Champion installed in time."

"That does seem unlikely."

"So that's the other part. With the Yiga tournament. Worst case scenario, if the Yiga succeed and get their Champion paired with Vah Naboris, if I'm the Yiga Champion, it won't be a catastrophe."

She blinks at him.

It's a wild notion. She doesn't care for it at all. For a moment, she just shakes her head, at a loss for words. Finally, she manages, "Riju may like you, but we're going to have serious issues with the Gerudo if you become Vah Naboris' pilot."

"Worst case scenario. It'd be temporary. Just until I have Naboris blow up the Yiga base and the Gerudo get a Champion picked out.

...It's theoretically possible that piloting duties can be transferred from one person to another. In theory, she knows how to do it, but she can't guarantee the transition will be flawless. It will probably be a painful. They'd risk offending Vah Naboris when they rip her pilot away, and they risk forming only a tenuous, begrudging bond with the second pilot.

"Worse case scenario," she says.

He nods.

"You'll do everything you can to not let that happen."

He nods.

She takes a very deep breath. Sitting in the cool shade under Riju's canopy, it's hard to explain why her head hurts like she has sun stroke.

#

They relocate slightly for the final round of molduga fighting. Lashley is up this time. She's a trained and capable soldier, but fighting huge sand monsters is not her forte. Riju predicts she'll do the same as Tali.

Lashley has her hair restrained under an elaborately tied contestant scarf. It's braided and twisted so it looks almost like flowers encircle her head. It does not scream fearsome warrior, and Zelda makes a note to catch her later and find out how she did it.

Her preformance is much like Tali's from the day before, her calling dance a bit stilted, and yet effective. She holds and stays until the beast is right under her. She shifts her feet and rides the monster into the air.

But her footwork is slightly off or her hold slightly wrong. Link shifts forward in his seat a second before the mulduga hits the apex of his leap and Lashley is thrown into the air.

And the monster's mouth snaps closed around her.

Zelda shrieks. Riju and Link are on their feet, Riju shouting orders, signalling the backup troops on the sidelines to rush in and take the beast down. The monster is back under the sand, burrowing one direction then another, unable to pick between the three squads that rush onto the sand.

Suddenly, it shudders, all the sand covering it shivering off as it reveals itself. Electricity skitters over its skin. It moans and shakes its head, then a moment later, there's another burst of lightning.

The troops slow their approach.

The molduga moans and writhes, shaking its head, kicking at its face with flippers that don't reach. It snaps its jaws, and in the flash of sunlight they can see a figure inside, stabbing at the roof of its mouth as its enormous tongue bucks and rolls to dislodge her.

It snaps its mouth closed and tries to bury itself again. But it doesn't get far before throwing its head from the sand and screaming. It's eyes are wide, its fins thrown out, trembling with electric shocks.

It collapses to the ground and lies there. Its jaws slowly open it fits and starts, heaved upward as Lashley lifts them, shifting from one knee to her feet, then throwing her arms up over her head, gasping as soon as she has fresh air, revealing herself to thunderous cheers. She's damp and askew and looks shocked she survived.

The molduga explodes around her in a poof of smoke and she bites off a shriek as she falls to the sand.

Link flops back into his seat, looking a bit pale. She reaches for his hand, her other covering her mouth. She's not sure she's breathing. When she turns to him with wide eyes, he's silent for a long moment as chaos roars around them.

"Now that, I think I could do," he says.

It's absolutely shocking she doesn't kill him.

#

No one guessed the Yiga's second challenge correctly. While the first of the challenges made sense both as standard tournament fare and as a stolen version of the Rito's challenges, their second challenge makes no sense whatsoever.

They have a metal plate about twenty feet long. Beside it is an electric pylon, glowing green with power.

Zelda is very concerned as to where the Yiga found the pylon. How did they get their hands on it? Did they find how to enter a shrine? Did they find one outside a shrine? Where?

She's concerned about that until she realizes what's about to happen with the electricity and the metal plate.

When Link first introduced her to the Goron Blood Brothers, he mentioned that they trained by standing on very hot plates until they passed out. To show their strength and resolve. Link had, of course, cheated. Given how he's slipping on his topaz earrings, hiding them under his scarf, and digging for an elixir, he's about to cheat on this challenge too.

"You can't!" she hisses. "That will kill you."

He shakes the elixir at her, pulls down his face mask, and downs the elixir in a rhythmic series of gulps.

She shakes her head and turns away from him. "I can't watch this."

"You can head back to Gerudo Town. I'll meet you there tonight."

"And leave you alone without backup? I don't think so."

He reaches out and tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear, even though it doesn't go there. "You like me," he teases.

She corrects the hair placement, untucking it from her ear and smoothing it under her kerchief.

When she looks back at him, he's considering her. "If you don't want me to go, I don't have to."

"And you'd be fine with that?"

"If it makes you happy."

"But it would make you anxious."

"I mean, we could just go get me hooked up to Vah Naboris right now and be done with it." He lifts his eyebrows at her: he won't follow through on this ridiculous tournament idea if she goes along with an even more ridiculous idea of pulling Vah Naboris out from under the Gerudo's feet. There is surely a third option, a better plan that Link hasn't thought of. But, of course, in the moment she can't think of it either.

She rolls her eyes. "Fine. Go get yourself electrocuted."

He kisses her hard through his face mask. She can feel his grin through the fabric.

"Glowing-string-travel away if you need to. I'll find you," he says, and with that he's off, slipping along the cliff edge and dropping to the ground behind the main group. He walks up without anyone noticing.

A while later (and she _is not_ watching the time to see how much longer he has on his twelve-hour elixir, because that would be absurd) the three competitors step up onto the slab. Their feet clunk against the metal.

The master of ceremonies explains that this will be a test of endurance. There will be bursts of electricity, and between each one the competitors can forfeit or pass out. Passing out counts as a forfeit. Each burst of electricity will increase in intensity and duration. The contestants all nod that they understand because clearly none of them value their own lives.

One of the footsoldiers reaches out with a wooden stick with a hook on the end. From the ground, he lifts a metal chain that sparks with electricity. The competitors brace themselves.

Zelda can't watch. She ducks her head into her arms and bites back something between a sigh and a wail. She only lifts her head when there's light applause from the Yiga.

The Blademaster to Link's left is shifting from foot to foot, frantically rubbing away a pain in his thigh. The Blademaster to Link's right is shaking so badly that Zelda can see it from her place on the cliff. He clenches and unclenches his hands. And Link...Link is completely unaffected by any of this.

Her relief that his precautions worked and that this isn't actually going to kill him are immediately wiped away as it dawns on her that he's in danger for completely different reasons. The Yiga are not the most observant, but surely they'll catch on that Link is cheating. At least they will if he doesn't do a better job faking it.

The second round begins, and while the two Blademasters are wracked with rictus, Link just stands there, casually. He's still breathing and easy and it wouldn't surprise her if he reached up and rubbed the back of his neck.

She shakes her head and reaches for the slate. She's here to watch his back, after all.

She gives him one more second to get his act together, then hits him with the stasis rune. His muscles freeze mid breath, his hands stilled at an awkward angle. She bites her lip and checks him against the posture of the two Blademasters.

This whole thing is disturbing.

The stasis breaks, and Link stumbles forward, gasping and clutching his chest. Thankfully it breaks just a second after the current is removed, so his reaction is perfectly timed.

She's not sure she'll luck into such good timing next time.

Link stretches out his shoulder, pulling his arm across his chest. Then stretches his side by twisting at the waist. He shoots a look in her direction, but she has no idea what he means to convey and he can't see her in her hiding spot. She decides to believe he's thanking her for her quick thinking.

The next round starts and she freezes him again. This time, the stasis breaks well before the current is turned off. But this time, he's expecting it and continues to hold still.

When he's allowed to move again, he puts a fist at the small of his back and squeezes it. _Hold_. It's a signal from the Sheikah and the Royal Guard. She wonders if he knows where he learned it.

The Blade Masters are not doing well. They shake and huff and massage at their arms and chests. Link does a bit of mimicking this after the next round. He's still not great at it, but the Yiga don't notice.

The shocks seem to get worse in a loose exponential. She tries to time them and find a pattern, but there isn't one except they get longer and longer as the Yiga crowd grows more bored. After the fifth round, the Blademaster on Link's left falls to one knee, bracing himself with a hand against the ground. The audience holds their breath, leans forward in excitement. But after a few deep breaths and several shakes of his head, he stands once more. After the sixth round, he collapses completely, and two of the footsoldiers run up to check that he's still breathing. They carry him off and write the number six next to his name.

The Blademaster on Link's right is swaying. After the seventh round, he falls over sideways, hits the ground hard, and tries to scramble up, but his arms and legs are twitching too hard. He tries to stand again. Then again once more. Then he flops onto his back and forfeits. The footsoldiers help carry him away and award him seven points.

Link is left standing alone and untroubled. Zelda sends up a prayer that he won't stand there all night.

After the next round, he falls to one knee, makes a show of pressing a hand to his heart, then he rises again. He does the exact same thing after the next round, where the shock is left on so long that Zelda suspects they are trying to kill him.

After the tenth round, he plops to a seat, wipes his forehead (it's warm enough that he's sweating), and says, "I forfeit."

All the Yiga cheer.

#

It takes him a while to untangle himself from all the Yiga who are rooting for him now. They all want to hand him ceramic mugs of what looks like home-brewed beer that they pour through the small slits in their masks rather than tipping the masks up out of the way like a normal person would. They end up with beer all over their fronts, and their masks will probably smell terrible tomorrow and every day after for a month. They all want to talk to him about what it's like to be electrocuted and where he's from and how he came to join the Yiga. They all want to hear his thoughts about Kohga's teachings, and hear how sad he is about Calamity Ganon's fall, and hear him rage against the Heinous Monarch.

That's what they call Zelda.

Link answers most of these by explaining how obnoxious he finds the Undead Knight. That's what they call Link. He has far too much fun disparaging himself, and his anecdotes of his own irritable qualities are detailed enough that the Yiga assume he has been personally wronged. They love it. His ranting gets him out of declaring his loyalty to the Yiga or saying anything rude about Zelda.

She decides to give him permission to vilify her if he needs to. She won't hold it against him if it's in the name of staying safe.

She rolls onto her back and waits under the stars. After almost two hours, she picks up the thick scent of banana, which she finds odd for a split second before she jerks upright. Link is slipping up to her out of the darkness, his eyebrows drawn in a frown.

"You need to watch yourself," he hisses. "If I were a Yiga I would have stabbed you."

"Why do you smell like banana?"

"Because the beer is banana flavored."

She crinkles her nose in disgust. "I beg your pardon."

He shrugs.

Goddess, she hates the Yiga.

She informs him, "They're not using the proper glassware."

Link blinks at her. He pulls down his mask to heave a deep sigh. "Okay, Zel. Let's get you back to the palace."

He tries to slip an arm around her waist, but she pulls back when her hand encounters his damp shirtfront. "You are _soaked_ in _banana beer_!"

He looks down at himself and shrugs. "At least it was really easy to not get drunk," he says. "If you just spill the whole thing over your front, none gets in your mouth."

"I'd think you'd be drunk off the fumes."

She really doesn't want to hug him right now, but she has to in order to warp. She compromises by slipping behind him and embracing him from the back. She can wrap one arm up over his mostly dry shoulder and hold the slate in his hand. She can press her face against the back of his neck and hold onto him. He snorts and reaches up to cover her hand with his own.

When they land outside Gerudo Town, he has to _peel_ his clothes off. The Sheikah outfit was already snug, but now it's clinging. He tugs. He almost gets his shirt off over his head, but then he gets stuck with it covering his face. It probably smells revolting, and he staggers and gags as he wrestles with the fabric. Unexpectedly, his sticky chest is one of the least attractive things she's ever seen.

She hates the Yiga.

She pours some water from a bottle onto a clean shirt from her pack, and holds it out to him, her hand extended as far as she can reach.

"Thanks," he says, grinning at her. He wipes himself down to get the yuck off.

And, okay, that's not the least attractive thing.


	42. Chapter 42 Gerudo Desert

When Zelda wakes the next morning without Link half draped over her, she reaches a groggy hand to tug him back. He's not beside her. He's gone. Link never wakes up before she does. It's so shocking that she jerks upright, her eyes darting around to find him, sure he must be in danger.

He's standing by the window, leaning his elbows against the windowsill, giving her a bemused look.

"You're awake," she says.

"You don't have to act that surprised."

But she is. He was awake when she went to sleep too, just holding her and stroking her hair and staring at the ceiling. She scooches out of bed to stand with him by the window and drag a hand up his back until he shifts to face her. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." He slips an arm around her waist, and brushes back her bed head with his free hand. He gives her his dopey, early morning and stupid in love look. "Just couldn't sleep."

He ducks to kiss her, and she lets him for a moment, but ends it shortly.

"What's wrong?" she asks.

He sighs, clearly hoping she'd be more distracted. "A lot."

"Tell me."

He cringes, and tkes a moment to think of which of the many things that are bothering him he should tell her about first.

"The tournament is too easy."

She rolls her eyes and almost pulls away from him, but he snorts and keeps her close.

"The last trial, I just stood there for about an hour and still won."

"You'd rather struggle through being electrocuted?"

"I just...haven't felt very impressive lately."

She relaxes back into his arms, resting her hands on his chest and fiddling with his collar. "Daring battles are not the only things that make you impressive."

He makes a face like he doesn't believe her.

"You are also a very impressive chef. And...you're good at running errands and thus winning the trust of the people. And you make a good research assistant. And you're handsome and charming and good at kissing." She bumps his nose with her own.

"When we run out of monsters to fight, I'll be a chef."

"Oh, that would be lovely."

He kisses her again, and she sinks into it. He really is good at kissing.

When he pulls back, she says, "I'm sure you're right and the last Yiga trial will be a combat challenge. You'll be impressive. I can even swoon over you, if you like." She tugs gently on his ear as she teases him.

Instead of teasing her back or letting this comfort him, he changes subjects. "I going to fight Thunderblight Ganon this morning."

And whatever light-hearted, sleepy feeling she had vanishes. Her whole body tenses. "Are...But..." She bites her lip.

Thunderblight Ganon.

He needs to relive Urbosa's last battle.

Because the next time he approaches Vah Naboris it will trigger the battle, and that can't happen when he's in disguise, surrounded by Yiga. Because they're coming to the end of Link's challenges, and this is all that's left. He' right: he's slowly running out of monsters to fight. Slowly coming to the end of ways he views himself as useful. No wonder he couldn't sleep.

But.

Thunderblight Ganon.

Does he want to fight it because he'll look impressive? That's ridiculous! No one will see him! Or does he fear that he's lost his touch, gone soft lately, and worried that he won't be up to the challenge?

He shouldn't tax himself so close to the final Yiga trial. What if he wears himself out? He should put Thunderblight Ganon off until tomorrow—when the attack on Vah Naboris might happen that very evening.

Thunderblight Ganon.

He'll use Urbosa's sword.

Is it possible that if Urbosa was just... _better_...more _impressive_ , she could have survived? Is that what these trials are saying? Look at Link and how much better he is than everyone else?

What a horrible thing for her to think.

She's shaking so hard her teeth chatter.

"Zel." He pulls her tight against him, his arms squeezing her so strongly that she gasps, and it's the first breath she's drawn in a while. She clutches at him and presses her face to his neck and doesn't beg him not to go, because she can't form words.

"I can go alone if you want. I thought about going while you were asleep."

"Don't you dare." That would be so much worse. "No, I need to...Someone has to watch out for you while you're in your trance."

"Are you sure?"

"I wasn't there for her. But I can be there for you."

#

They know that as soon as they land on Vah Naboris after warping, Link will be pulled into the battle. They don't hold each other any differently, but Zelda stands tall, her chin tilted up and her lips pursed in determination. She looks him straight in the eyes, deadly serious, with complete faith in him and says, "I love you."

He nods. Also deadly serious. "I love you."

They warp.

And Link sucks in a breath and stiffens.

She doesn't want to move her arms from around his neck. She'll need to support his weight when he comes back, but that will take a minute. She has a minute. She brushes her knuckles against his cheek, brushes his hair from his eyes. She drags her hands down to his elbows, unwilling to remove her hands from him even for a moment. Somehow supporting him makes the situation easier. She can focus on him, and not the scene that must be playing out in his mind.

He's absolutely still, and yet the skin around his eyes seems to tense. And maybe the color drains slowly from his cheeks or maybe the sun has shifted, washing out all the color.

She says, "You can do this."

She says, "You're a Champion."

She says, "Avenge her."

He's gone far longer than any of the other trials, but then she's not really timing him so maybe it's just a trick of her anxiety, and then again he had more trouble with Thunderblight Ganon than any of the others the first time around.

When he finally sucks in a breath, she's ready, bracing his weight and greeting him with a sad, proud smile. He twists away, pushes her backwards, and empties his stomach.

"Link!"

He collapses to his hands and knees, gasping and gagging in turn.

"Link..." She hesitates a moment, unsure if she should touch him, but then she kneels beside him and rubs soothing circles into his back. He's shivering, and he's definitely pale now. His shoulders hunch in on themselves as if they're trying to protect him. She's never seen him like this before. She holds down her panic and keeps her voice soft. "Shh. You're alright. You're here, with me, and you're alright."

He shudders.

Eventually, his gasping eases and he straightens enough to fall backwards. She strokes sweaty bangs from his forehead and offers him some water. It takes him a while to take it, because he has to prop himself up on an elbow.

She waits. She has to bite her tongue not to ask. She doesn't want to ask and force him to tell her something awful.

He rubs his face and swears. His other hand clutches at his side in a way that makes her want to check it, press her hands hard against the wound that's surly hiding under his shirt, hiding in his memories.

"Are you alright?" Clearly he's not, but she needs him to tell her.

"He was so fast. He..." He looks at her, then through her, and for a second she thinks he's having a second vision. But then he sits up and looks around. "Did you hear that?"

"Pardon?"

His eyes dart around at the sky, towards the interior of Vah Naboris, back to the sky. "The final challenge is at the Shrine of Resurrection."

She nods slowly, not really understanding, but assuming this at least means he was successful against Thunderblight Ganon. His hand rises from the phantom wound in his side to the center of his chest. It rises as he takes a great, heaving breath.

He isn't going to tell her about his battle, and she shivers with indignation that he won't soothe her anxious curiosity. And Urbosa was _her_ maternal figure, so she deserves to know.

But if Link isn't telling her, then it's probably horrible, and he's right, she doesn't need that.

That or it's slipped his mind already, which doesn't seem likely.

"I need lunch," he says.

"It's barely nine in the morning." Their banter comes slower than usual. But it's there. It's still there."

He frowns. "Then I have time for a nap after we have early lunch."

He starts to stand, and she slips under his arm to prop him up. "An early lunch at this time is called brunch."

"Do we also have to use the right glassware, Miss Princess Face?"

"Don't be asinine. Of course, we do."

#

The final Yiga trial starts in front of the hideout, and Zelda sets herself up high on the cliff overhead. Link looks much better after far too much shwarma and more baklava than she'd thought one person could eat. He's bright eyed and bushy tailed and optimistic that _this_ trial is going to be the good one. Or at least he mostly is. There's still a faint shadow under his eyes and a stiffness to his shoulders.

The master of ceremonies announces that he has hidden fifty bunches bananas along the Karusa Valley. The contestants have an hour to gather as many as they can and get back here. Whoever finds the most bananas wins. Each contestant is presented with a bag to carry their findings and the master of ceremonies makes some very elaborate gestures to show off his giant hourglass, as if it's some strange new device that should captivate everyone's attention.

Zelda rolls her eyes at yet another strange trial. "Bunches of bananas" seems an odd unit. Can't they be split, and then the contestant will have twice as many bunches? And Link has told her that it takes all afternoon to traverse Karusa Valley. There's no way they can get to the end and back in an hour, so either they won't have to travel very far, or they must—

The master of ceremonies rings a gong, at which point the Blademaster on Link's right takes off running and the Blademaster on the left attacks Link.

She's glad she's so far away this time, because she gasps loudly and then can't bring herself to duck out of sight. With their swords crossed and straining, Link lands a good kick to the Blademaster's chest, throwing them apart enough for Link to take off running. He catches up to the Blademaster already down the valley, who has climbed up to a ledge for a bunch of bananas. As soon as he drops down, Link attacks him, and they battle it out for a single bunch of bananas. Or to take each other out of the competition. Who knows?

The other Blademaster soon catches up to them, and Link ducks out of the three-way fight to run further down the valley and out of sight. The two Blademasters swing their giant swords at one anther, dodging faster than should be possible, until one of them blasts the other into the air, using the magic that opens the ground under their feet, sending up a geyser. The thrown Blademaster crashes against the canyon wall, and the other one charges on, chasing after Link and more bananas.

Zelda sits back, assuming the three of them are probably going to spend the next hour fighting it out over no more than four bunches of bananas. She tries to listen in to what the Yiga crowd is saying, but they're far away, and what she does pick up are bawdy jokes and ribbing about how so-and-so let the Undead Knight get the bast of him that once. "You were beaten by the little blue one," is a common insult that seems to end all arguments.

It's a boring hour.

The contestants return staggering, but still swiping at each other if they get too close to one another. Their sacks are now full and lugged over their shoulders. One of the Blademasters has wrapped a makeshift bandage around his arm. The other has a slash across his shirt. Link has a black eye.

They all grudgingly take their places to present their findings to the master of ceremonies as the last of the sand runs from the hourglass.

"Kanna!" the master of ceremonies shouts, "How many bananas did you find?"

The Blademaster on the left steps forward, and upends his bag. "I found thirty bunches of bananas!" he announces.

As ridiculous as this competition is, Zelda's heart sinks. This one Yiga found more than half the bananas.

Link gives Kanna a venomous look, and the other Blademaster is standing in such a way that if she could see his face under his mask, she's sure he would be glaring too.

"Harson!" the master of ceremonies shouts, "How many bananas did you find?"

Link steps forward, and upends his sack. "I found _thirty-five_ bunches of bananas." Link turns to raise his eyebrows meaningfully at Kanna, and the audience explodes in shouts and laughter and jeers.

One of them is cheating. It very well might be Kanna, but it is also most definitely Link.

Zelda holds back a groan. How is it possible for him to be this outrageous? He is absurd. Asking for trouble. Why does he carry around so much fruit?! He's probably very proud of his preparedness. He's probably annoyed that there wasn't a _real_ challenge to actually find bananas.

The master of ceremonies gets everyone to quiet down, then turns to the final contestant. "Stoji! How many bananas did you find?"

The last Blademaster struts up, upends his sack, and shouts, "I found fifty bunches of bananas!"

Kanna shouts in outrage and throws himself forward to attack Stoji, who was definitely expecting to be called out. They clash together for a few swipes and parries, before Link throws himself into their midst and throws off their rhythm. Stoji swings wide. Kanna ducks to the side and loses his footing. Link slips behind Stoji and has him in a headlock for only a moment before Kanna is rushing towards them again with his blade raised, screaming a war cry, and Link has to drop his hold to duck away.

In the flying steal and thrown sand, Zelda loses track of which Blademaster is which, only marking Link as he darts between two enemies. None of them team up. None of them can keep their focus on a single opponent. Link spins left to block a sword and right to block a sword, then ducks and rolls away as the two Blademasers go after each other over his head. They have reach on him, but he is faster. Link slices one of them in the leg, and the Yiga stumbles to one knee, at which point the other Blademaster brings his sword down in a deathblow, that is knocked wide as Link takes a flying leap into the attacker's side, knocking him over, pinning him beneath him, and punching him in the mask, which cracks so loudly Zelda hears it clear as the gong that started this nasty business.

Link is the only one who stands up.

The Yiga are silent for a long moment. Then they erupt into cheers.

#

It's another long wait for Link to extract himself from the Yiga party. He's getting all the information he needs for the Yiga assault. When and were they'll meet and how they'll approach and how many will attack. But it seems as though the Yiga are more interested in slinging banana flavored beer at him, offering their congratulations, and cheering that they will soon murder the Heinous Monarch! Zelda rolls her eyes and rolls onto her back to watch the stars again. It's a better view from here than she had last night.

She hears Link coming, and sits up to meet him, but something makes her still. He's walking strangely. Is he drunk? And he's looking around as if he doesn't quite remember where he left her. The poor lighting stretches his silhouette makes him look thinner, the poof of his hair higher. Or has he had to redo it because it got mussed? Or—

He shifts, and the silhouette of his face in profile is missing, replaced with a flat mask.

It's not Link at all.

She flattens herself against the dirt, half hidden by a slight rise in the ground, half hidden by the dark. She gently pulls out the slate and sets it to warp. But she'll wait. Maybe the footsoldier won't see her. Maybe he'll just turn around and head back the way he came.

Her heart is pounding so loudly that she can no longer hear his approach. She can no longer hear how loud she's breathing. She can't think for the pounding that's turning to panic.

Link said to leave. Link said to leave. She can't leave Link here.

The footsoldier freezes. His head snaps in her direction. She holds so still she might be trapped in stasis. She might be electrocuted. He can't see her. He can't see her. He can't—

He pulls out a spiked ring like a deadly tambourine and drops into a defensive stance. Before he can teleport closer, she jabs the slate and warps.

She lands outside Gerudo Town, stretched flat against the stone, and she's shaking so hard she can't get the slate back into its holster. She left him. She left him. How could she leave him?

She crosses her arms over her face and chokes.

She can imagine the way it will play out: the foot soldier will rush back to camp to say she was there and she was spying. They'll shout about how awful she is, and then they'll rush to search the area, looking for Link. And finally, the Yiga will put it all together and turn on their newly appointed Champion. They'll head to Vah Naboris tonight.

No. No. He'll be safe in his stupid disguise. She did what he told her to do. When the footsoldier announces that he saw her and she warped away, Link will know exactly what happened. He'll find her. He'll make his way across the desert and find her. She just needs to go back to the palace and wait for him.

She'll also tell Riju. The chief can send people to rescue him. Yes, good.

With a plan, she sniffs and wipes her tears on the sleeve of her snowquill coat before heading into town.

Riju nods at Zelda's story, and says, "You mean he won? That's the best news I've gotten all day. What was the last challenge? He better have some secrets to share with me when he gets back tomorrow."

Zelda hesitates, then says, "If he gets back tomorrow."

Riju waves a hand. "Even if this party of his doesn't wind down until sunrise and then he naps until noon, he'll still get here tomorrow. There's plenty of sand seals to catch over there. And knowing him, he'll be back by morning...Or he'll get distracted and show up next week sometime...But you're here, so I'm sure it'll be tomorrow morning."

Zelda can't sleep. This is a different room from the one in which Zelda used to stay, for which she's grateful. And the sandstone walls and cozy wall hangings are familiar enough to be comforting. But the windows are vast and there's no glass in them so the room can catch a breeze, and she can't help imagining a Yiga head popping through those windows. She can't help but think every padding step in the hallway is a Yiga intruder, come to slice her throat and steal the slate.

 _Link's fine_ , she tells herself. He'll be back with a clueless story about sand seal surfing and no notion of her distress.

It's nearing dawn when footsteps sound in the hall, and just as she has every other time she's heard noises tonight, she tenses. The doorknob jiggles, then unlocks, then opens, and Link steps in. It's definitely Link. The way he stands. His familiar Gerudo vai clothes.

She sits up even as all her muscles release. He locks the door behind him and rushes to the bed, dropping beside her and taking her arms in his hands. Before he can ask if she's alright, she tears off his veil and kisses him, scared and angry and desperate and needing to feel the heat of him. She cups his face and drags her fingers into his hair, ridding him of his head covering.

He meets her just as desperately, and she warms at the thought that he was worried about her. Worried that he wasn't there to protect her or worried because he knew she'd be a mess after leaving him, she doesn't know.

She yanks on the buckle of the baldric across his chest and the Master Sword and a bow and a battered lizalfo shield clatter to the floor. She twists, dragging him over her and onto his back. She climbs on top of him and kisses him harder. He tastes like bananas, and she hates it so much that she's going to make him taste like her instead.

His sleeves jingle as he strokes up and down her spine, and she wants that to stop too. Her roving hands slip under the tight, bottom hem of his top, ready to pull it off over his head, but he hisses and grabs her wrists. "Zelda—"

"Take it off. Take it off right now." She tugs, but he holds her hands.

"We shouldn't."

"Why not? I just want—I just need—I need to feel you here and safe with me, and—Goddess!—I need you to not be in disguise."

He hesitates. Then lets go of her wrists.

She honestly wasn't expecting him to give in without more of an argument, and it takes her aback for a moment. Enough to slow her wildness, enough to make her feel slightly timid as she eases her hands further inside his shirt. He sucks in a breath, and his skin is so warm. Pulling up the fabric, she drags her hands up his chest—all places she's touched him before, but this is different.

He props himself up to sitting so she can pull the fabric over his head, then he lies back as she works on his sleeves, unclamping the bands above his biceps, slipping off the rings on his fingers that hold the sleeves down. She's methodical, taking her time to marvel at every inch of skin she exposes. His breathing grows heavier as he watches her, his muscles jumping under her hands.

She imagined that finally ripping off his clothes would be a wild, heated scrambling.

He's bare from the waist up, spread out under her, his hands tight against her hips, his eyes dark and lips parted, and finally—finally—he looks like himself. She takes a moment to appreciate it. Takes a moment to feel safe. Normal. At home. Then she tucks her hair behind her ear and bends to kiss him.

Her clothes stay on, and that's fine. After she claims his chest with kisses and licks and bites that have him moaning softly and rutting under her, she sits up and rolls her hips against him, one hand splayed on his chest, until he surges up and clutches her tight to his chest and sucks so hard against her neck that she cries out, and he gasps out a reminder that there are people around and she needs to be quiet. And she starts to giggle uncontrollably, because they are doing something elicit and secret and exciting, and yet it doesn't involve any sort of bodily danger.

 _What if someone hears them?_ Then they have mundane teenager problems. It's the most joyous thought she's had all day.

He looks up at her with a grin. "What? You get loud sometimes."

"Shhhhh," she says. She presses a finger to his mouth, then replaces it with her lips, trying not to giggle and failing but managing to do it silently. She's very very quiet for a good long time.

Until she gets too distracted again and forgets.


	43. Chapter 43, Gerudo Desert

The Yiga's strike on Vah Naboris is that night, and Link spends a few hours in the morning with Riju and several of the guards, devising their defense strategy while Zelda sits on the windowsill and half listens. It's mostly troop movement and close-quarters combat, and if there's not a large, ancient weapon requiring a great deal of fiddling, she's too out of her element to contribute. The Gerudo have already set up some defenses around the Divine Beast after their first report that the Yiga had boarded her. Vah Naboris is now at the center of an encampment of spikes and explosives.

Zelda wishes she had been involved in devising the barricades. That would have been fun. She would have made counterweight traps and maybe mixed some tar. Something they could light on fire. Perhaps they could arm Vah Naboris with trebuchets until her own defenses come back online. Zelda has been too disconnected from her research goals since they moved into town.

At least Vah Medoh is due back soon, and Zelda will have a chance to work on repairs for the flying fortress' shields, which thanks to Link are in ruins.

Link catches her staring into space and smirks at her. She raises an eyebrow and pulls out a journal to jot down her trebuchet idea while he answers some question from Captain Teake.

"What's that?"

Zelda jumps. Clinging to the side of the palace and leaning over Zelda's shoulder from out the window is Barta.

Zelda looks back towards the meeting, where no one has noticed Barta's presence, then back out at the Gerudo. "What are you doing there?" she whispers.

"I'm trying to listen in on whatever meeting they're having." Barta says this like it's obvious and she doesn't feel guilty at all or worried she might be caught.

"Do you eavesdrop like this often?"

"No. Not often."

Zelda's not quite sure how to continue. "This...seems like a security breach. That someone would be able to listen in on the chief's planning meetings."

"Oh, for sure. That's why I'm here. If I'm sneaking around out here, I'd bump into any Yiga who are also sneaking around out here."

"Have you brought these concerns to the Captain?"

"Heightened security wouldn't let me listen in, now would it?"

Barta's logic eludes her.

The Gerudo jerks her chin. "What's that?"

"A trebuchet." She flicks through her sketches pointing out the mechanics and targeting.

"For Vah Naboris?" Barta asks.

"I was thinking about it, but there's really no reason for it."

Barta shrugs. "It'd still be fun. We could put them up on the town walls. Do you think you could throw a person?"

"You _could_. Throwing them isn't the hard part. It's the landing that wouldn't go well."

"What if they land on a big pile of hay? That'd be easier than walking out to the bazaar."

Zelda says she'll think on it.

Riju stands from the meeting table, and Barta ducks in to look, before ducking back behind the windowsill and climbing down. She curses and whisper-shouts, "I'm going to be late. Wish me luck at the trial."

"Good luck at the trial!" shouts Captain Teake, who doesn't even look up from sweeping all the delicately carved troop markers off the map spread over the table.

They have to rush from the palace to the sand-seal course for the second Gerudo trial. With the race closer to town and the massive popularity of sand-seal racing, the stands are packed with both locals and tourists. There are several sets of stands along the course, and the town has rippled with debate over which one is the second-best place to sit. The best place, of course is at the beginning of the track, which also happens to be the end as the course goes in a loop, but Riju's pavilion takes up a fair portion of those stands, and seating is limited.

As they're all going to the pavilion, Zelda and Link head in with a handful of guards from the meeting. As they get close, Link squeezes her arm and murmurs close to her ear so she can hear over the crowd. "I'm going to change clothes."

"Be back soon."

He nods and ducks off, and Zelda turns to keep walking, only to discover that the rest of her escort has vanished ahead of her into the crowd. She's jostled by an elbow, and shakes herself, pushing onward towards the pavilion. She can see it over people's heads. The crowd presses in, and her lungs contract, and everywhere she looks, there's a merchant who refuses to take off a bulky backpack or someone with a spear that's not tucked away correctly. The forward movement halts, then she's pushed backward by the tide, and she's sweating and hot, and it wasn't this hot a moment ago. She blinks rapidly and shakes her head to clear it. She swallows. She needs to keep her head. She can't embarrass herself here.

Something tugs sharp at her belt, and she spins and grabs a wrist that drops a leather purse before slipping out of her grasp and vanishing. It's not her purse and all her pouches and the slate are still firmly attached, but she ducks down to grab the purse and is hit by a knee that almost sends her sprawling.

"Did someone drop this?" she asks. She holds it up. She can speak to have her voice carry, but for some reason it doesn't work. Maybe it's her barely controlled panic, maybe it's because no one here cares.

She startles as a loud whistle pierces the air. The crowd stills around her, then parts, everyone shuffling quickly to the sides to make a clear path. Their attention is over Zelda's head, and she turns to see Tali, her sunglasses in place, her lips pulled in a disinterested frown, her hands on her hips. She says nothing, simply plucks the purse from Zelda's hand, and lifts it up for all to see. Someone squeaks, then a Hylian voe darts forward with his cheeks bright red. Tali drops the purse into his hand, and he bows deeply to both Zelda and Tali before hurrying away in embarrassment

Tali walks past Zelda and through the quivering, reverent crowd. Taking advantage of the cleared path, Zelda hurries after her. Over her shoulder, the crowd flows back onto itself, chatter rebuilding as everyone whispers that they saw Tali and how well she'll do in this challenge.

Tali walks straight to the readying area where the contestants have gathered with their sand-seals and a team of support staff. The women adjust harnesses and stretch out their shoulders. Tali walks up to her partner, who launches into a report of the wind conditions and the crowds and the temperature. She already has a chestnut brown sand-seal harnessed and ready, and Tali drops down in front of the creature to take its face in her hands and stare deeply into its eyes.

The space is blessedly open, and Zelda presses her hands to her stomach and breathes.

Barta winks at her as she rubs down a delighted gray seal with a bristly brush. The seal's eyes are closed, the tip of its tongue sticking out. Barta reaches a spot that makes the seal's leg flap reflexively, then it flops onto its side with a deep huff to give her better access. Barta chides the creature for being lazy, but the seal just twitches and she doesn't seem to mean it.

Deltan is going through a series of stretches, so focused on her task that she doesn't notice Zelda or Tali's arrival at all.

Lashley and a few of the vai from the sand-seal rental are trying to coax a large, tan creature into sitting still, but it's rolling out of their reach and dragging itself heavily on its belly, seeming to take impish pleasure in the Gerudo's irritation. The rental vai are quickly losing patience with it, chiding and shouting. More than anything, they look embarrassed, and keep shooting panicked looks at Lashley, who looks too skittish of the beast to notice. She tentatively holds out a fruit, which it gobbles from her hands as she jerks back, nearly taking the fruit with her.

The seal does a hopping, spinning shuffle, as boisterous as could be expected from a creature of such heft, then it rolls suddenly into Lashley, knocking her down. Zelda hurries forward and gives her a hand up. The Gerudo gives the seal a betrayed look and rubs her rear.

"He's a stubborn monster, but he's fast," one of the rental ladies assures, a desperate tone to her voice. The seal's tail beats awkwardly against her legs, and her knees threaten to buckle. "As soon as you get him moving, I swear he'll follow your directions, no problem."

Lashley frowns.

"Are you...renting a sand-seal?" Zelda asks.

"We don't all own sand-seals," Lashley says.

Or apparently have much experience riding them. It seems an unfair disadvantage.

"It's not necessary to own your own!" the rental vai says. "He's the fastest thing on two flippers. My hand to the Sisters."

Their anxiety is palpable, and the now dirty seal can most definitely sense it.

Zelda drops to her knees in front of the beast, who is now upside down, and rubs at his chin, which pauses his rolling as the chin scratch is far more interesting. "Does he have a name?" she asks softly.

"Brutus."

"Brutus." She smiles down at the creature and adds a second hand, digging her fingers into his thin fur as if he were a dog. "Big tough Brutus," she coos. "Are you being naughty?"

The rental ladies relax slightly that Brutus seems less rambunctious, but now they're shooting looks at Lashley again. Maybe they're worried she'll be offended that the creature has taken such a shine to someone else, or perhaps they're worried that Lashley is too fearful to control the seal.

Zelda smiles up at the contestant and tilts her head in invitation. Lashley hesitates, then squats beside her. Zelda takes her hand and presses it to the seal's chin. "You have to soothe your mount," she recites. "Soothing him will calm you, and he will sense your calmness and come to heel. You are calm. You are not afraid."

The seal calms under their hands. He huffs and flecks of spittle dot their knees. Lashley sighs and darts a glance at the other contestants. "How can I not be anxious? These trials aren't made for me."

"And yet, you're doing well."

Lashley rolls her eyes.

Zelda nods down at the seal, who has nearly fallen asleep under Lashley's hands while Zelda's hands are tucked neatly in her lap. "See? Everyone knows these aren't your strong suits. From my experience, when expectations are low and failure is expected, even minor successes are viewed as major triumphs."

Lashley frowns. "I don't believe you."

"Well. That's because it's a lie. But I thought it sounded inspiring."

Lashley stares at her.

Then snorts so hard hat Brutus startles. She throws her head back and laughs, the tension falling from her shoulders.

A horn sounds, and an usher appears to guide the contestants to the starting line. With some nudging, they get Brutus onto his belly, and the ladies from the rental place are right: he's excited to go once there's actually something to do.

"Good luck," Zelda shouts, and waves to them all. Lashley and Barta wave back.

One of the rental ladies sighs. "He's going to embarrass us, isn't he?"

The other lady nods. "We should have given her Hester."

"Hester couldn't beat Varth."

"But Hester doesn't come with way too much personality."

"Thanks for your help, by the way," she says to Zelda. "Is there anything we can do for you?"

"If you could walk me to the pavilion—"

"I've got it."

She turns to see Link walk up to her.

"I leave for five minutes, you make friends with a seal."

"I also foiled a pick-pocket."

"Atta girl."

He slips an arm around her waist, and she waves at the rental ladies as they walk away.

They take their seats in the pavilion just as the contestants skid to the starting line. Captain Teake checks the time, and at first Zelda thinks she's anxious for the race to start. Then Zelda realizes she's worried about making it to Vah Naboris in time. Riju stands, just forward enough to be out of the shade, the center of attention. She gives the contestants a moment to settle themselves, to get in position. Zelda keeps a close eye on Brutus, who looks around as if he's already bored. Riju lifts her arm, and the wind takes hold of a scarf in her hand like the ones the contestants are wearing. When she drops it, the horn sounds again, and the race begins.

Tali gets the best start, and she's out in front before the others even begin to scramble. Barta and Deltan clamber for position, urging on their seals to pull into second place before the first turn. Neither wants the outside track, and their shields bump and crash against each other, and they're swinging so widely that Zelda worries for their footing. But then Brutus is there, barreling straight between them, knocking them both aside and hitting Barta in the back of the knee, sending her off balance, from which she thankfully recovers. Lashley careens past them, her knees bent so she's as low as can be. "Sorry!" she shouts, and she's past them, in second place into the first turn, holding on as the other two pull into position behind her.

The turn is a switchback, and Zelda can see them turn left and then right, rising up the sides of the banked curves. Then they vanish, only to reappear for just a second as the crest the first jump over a sand dune. Then they're gone for a full three minutes. The onlookers in the pavilion can hear the cheering from the distributed crowd, sets of stands erupting one after another. Waves of hoots as each contestant passes. Which contestant? Zelda can only tell from the flash of color from waved pennants, but that don't seem the most accurate indicator. From the timing of the cheers, Tali seems to be pulling farther into the lead.

There's a distinct, sympathetic "Oo!" from the crowd at the fourth set of stands, and Zelda has an urge to bounce in her seat. Did someone crash? Is everyone okay? She tries to tell how many cheers arise from the fifth set of stands, but it seems that once Tali appears, the crowd cheers until the last person is out of sight.

Then the racers reappear around a bend, heading to the finish line. It's a long, downhill stretch of jumps and curves, and full half mile visible from the pavilion. Tali's in first, but she's lost the lead Zelda expected. Barta is hot behind her, darting around dunes, zigging and zagging to get as little air as possible and maintain her momentum. She slips up the side of banks the same way she rode the wake of the molduga. Tali is tensed, her body lowered in a way it wasn't at the start of the race. Barta is making her work for it.

Lashley and Deltan appear next over the ridge, neck and neck, although their race is much more haphazard. Neither of them are trying to find the slickest, smoothest way down. Lashley is trying to hold on as Brutus hurls himself down the slope. She hits every jump that Tali and Barta avoided, and from the way she's leaned back, she's actively trying to slow the creature. Deltan is trying to get ahead while also trying to get out of the way. Every time she has a smooth opening, Brutus swerves and cuts her off.

"Deltan's actually doing some pretty impressive driving," Link says. He's grinning, his eyes bright. His knee jiggles ever so slightly.

"So much control," Riju agrees, as Brutus knocks over the sand dune Deltan is about to leap.

But then Link grabs Zelda's arm in excitement. He squeezes and jostles her as if he hasn't already gained her attention. He points as if she's not already looking, already cheering and grabbing for his arm with her free hand, needing something to squeeze. Barta's seal has pulled ahead of Tali, even if it has yet to pull even with the lead seal. Tali shouts and shoots forward, trying to swerve into the inside track and block the pass, just a split second before Barta shouts as well, cutting off Tali's maneuver. Barta has the inside on the final turn, and the crowd screams as she pulls almost even. Almost...Almost... They sail over the finish line with Tali still ahead by a foot and a half.

But it's as good as a win for Barta.

Meanwhile, Deltan finally pulls ahead, and the crowd's cheering shifts into a gasp as Brutus hits a high sand dune at breakneck speed, and suddenly he and Lashley are airborne, sailing over Deltan's head at an angle and landing hard beside her. Deltan pushes, shouting her seal to move and hunkering down to pick up speed. Lashley sails over her head again from the other direction, managing a twist in the air that would be considered showing off if it wasn't clear that she has gotten tangled in the reins and is trying to straighten herself out. She sticks the landing anyway, and people cheer. Knowing there's nothing else to do, she throws a hand in the air, as if to say, "Ta dah!" Link rubs his mouth, trying not to laugh.

By the time they reach the finish line, they're moving much faster than Tali and Barta were at the end. Deltan is two seal lengths ahead, mostly because Lashley is now backwards, and showing off by standing on one leg, the other extended out behind her like a dancer to give her some semblance of balance. She blows embarrassed kisses at the crowd.

"Picking one is going to be so hard," Riju says. "They all have souls of true Gerudo. They all have style to spare."

Lashley covers her mouth with a hand to hide a girlish blush and waves at the crowd, relishing her last-place finish. Deltan slows and pulls to circle Lashley before kicking up to speed again and flipping into a handstand on her shield. The crowd roars. Brutus does another jump that seems to surprise Lashley, and Deltan follows, spinning three full rotations in the air before hitting a perfect landing. She throws her arms out at Lashley, and shouts, "That's all you got?"

"Pretty much!" Lashley shouts back. Brutus is now just doing donuts.

Riju nods to herself as the crowd starts to flow onto the track, lifting all the contestants onto their shoulders and parading them around. "Yes, I picked a very good group of champions."

Riju stands, and Captain Teake blows the Horn of Spirit, which calls all active members of the military to follow. Captain Teake walks down and leads a parade back toward town, the contestants behind her, still bobbing atop people's shoulders. All active military at the race grumble as they fall into the parade. They were enjoying themselves and now they need to honor guard? Captain Teake is just lucky that every one of them has a favorite contestant and will support them at all costs, even if it means leaving their friends behind in the stands.

Of course, they are actually marching into an action briefing, then setting out for Vah Naboris immediately. But it wouldn't do to announce this to the crowd. Yiga spies could be anywhere.

And, of course, Riju has decided that the third trial will be a big surprise for the contestants: join the troops and defend Vah Naboris, be stunning and fearsome and deadly. She's split them so each contestant is with a different squad.

Link and Zelda stand as well. The excitement in her throat from the race now shifts into something more anxious. Link gives Riju a floppy looking salute, showing he has no memory of how to do it properly. The chief wishes him luck, and Link and Zelda hurry down under the stands, into the shadows, where anyone who sees them will think they've slipped away to grope each other and where no one will see them warp to the Yiga hideout.

Zelda doesn't let go of him after they land. Not until he kisses her properly and swears he won't be gone long.

"I swear," he breathes. "This will all be over soon."

It's hard to pull her arms from around his neck and take a step back. She clears her throat and straightens her hair before she warps, so he can carry the image of her smiling with him into battle. She leaves him there and heads back to Gerudo Town alone. She'd be little use in the melee, and if the Yiga are trying their best to claim Vah Naboris, it's imperative they not get their hands on the slate. She has to keep it safe.

When Zelda lands back at the shrine outside Gerudo Town, Buliara is waiting for her. Zelda blinks in surprise.

"Come," the woman says, and leads her towards town, towering protectively over Zelda and glaring at anyone who looks at them, her fist clenched around her spear. Zelda is escorted to the top of the palace, where Riju is already seated in a woven lounge chair under an umbrella, a drink with a straw and a miniature version of the umbrella in her hand. There's a second chair and untouched drink beside her.

"Good. You aren't too late. They'll be leaving soon."

Zelda sits, although it's more like a recline. The angle of the chair's back instinctively has her cross her legs at the ankle. It's a forced relaxation, and Zelda takes a sip of her drink through her straw to fortify herself. It's fruity—sour and sweet, and the alcohol hits her like something has whacked her in the nose.

"Will we be able to see the Yiga cross the desert?" Zelda asks.

"Their plan is to travel close to the cliffs. We might catch sight of them, but I can't say for sure."

There's a pair of binoculars on the ground between their chairs, and Zelda plucks them up to check the entrance to Karusa Valley. It's hazy from the sand and the heat, and great pillars of rock obscure the entrance.

"There they are," Riju says.

Four squads of Gerudo warriors take off in a herd of sand-seals, two looping around south while two head north. The groups split, and they almost immediately start running formation drills, looking for all the world as if Captain Teake is ticked at them again, maybe because of Lashley's performance in the trial.

But as they disperse, they drift south and east, heading gradually towards Vah Naboris. They move fast and sure, and soon they're just specks out on the sand.

"Welp. They're off." Riju has finished her drink, and she takes off some of the bangles on her arms before she slips lower in her chair and closes her eyes. "Now all we do is wait until tomorrow, when we'll see what sort of victory our champions bring home with them."

Zelda takes a deep breath. It feels as if her lungs are being squeezed.


	44. Chapter 44 Derudo Desert

It's easier to be away from Link tonight. Maybe because she left him willfully. He knows where she is, and she knows he'll have backup just as soon as he reaches the Divine Beast.

It's just those few hours when he's surrounded by Yiga and en route to Vah Naboris that she worries about. What if they all decide to teleport there and Link is just left behind, standing in the middle of their silly arena? What if he accidentally pulls out the Master Sword to kill a keese, and turns around to find everyone staring at him, blank and faceless?

She's not worried about the battle.

She is worried about how long it's going to take for word to reach her as to how the battle went. If Link doesn't show up at all, she won't know about it until several hours after the battle is over.

She recently bought some Gerudo pajamas made of thick, comfortable flannel to ward off the night chill. The pants are pink and loose with faint, orange pinstripes. The loose shirt is made of the same fabric. It's cream colored and long sleeved with buttons from the chest to the throat. She was surprised by how conservative it was. The vai at the store was confused by her reaction, until she finally said, "Oh! You're looking for lingerie! I have plenty of that. This way. But when you're done with it, you should change into the comfy pajamas to sleep." Zelda bought the comfy pajamas. She's thinking about going back for some lingerie.

She thinks the pajamas are modest until she puts them on and discovers that although there are buttons, there are not button holes.

It's still by far the most comfortable piece of clothing she's ever owned.

Instead of lying awake, worrying, she decides to sketch the shield mechanics for Vah Medoh, as far as her memory serves her. She remembers that they were oddly integrated with the cannons, and maybe she should reconfigure them. She sketches until her eyes itch and her shoulders ache and she remembers that she didn't really sleep the night before. She works until she can't stay awake, and then she brings her journal and the slate to bed and passes out on top of the covers, clutching both of them.

She wakes as the journal and slate are gently drawn from her hands. "Link?" she asks, blinking up groggily.

The slate it ripped away, and her eyes snap open to a Yiga footsoldier standing over her. She screams as he lifts his sickle high over his head. But he snaps towards the door as Buliara smashes it in and flies forward with a battle cry and her long spear. The Yiga teleports, reappearing on the windowsill. The slate is in his hand. He teleports again.

Zelda rolls. She grabs her bow and quiver and her belt from the floor and runs to the window. The footsoldier is below, running along the wall, and Zelda throws her belt over her shoulder and pulls out her paraglider.

Buliara shouts, "Zelda! No!" but she's already gone, holding her belt in place with her cheek when it starts to slip, botching the lading on the wall so she stumbles and arrows tumble from her quiver, but she keeps running. She tries to fold the paraglider, but it fights back, the wind pulling her towards the edge of the wall. When she gets it tucked away, she fights her belt around her waist. She slams to a stop long enough to fire off an arrow, hitting the foot soldier in the leg. He buckles, and she runs to catch up, but then he's back up and leaping off the wall into the sand seal rental courtyard.

A scream and a crash and Zelda throws herself off the wall with her paraglider. The footsoldier and a stolen sand seal are disappearing into the desert through a smashed hole in the wooden gate. Zelda runs to the closest seal, but one of the sales women shouts, "Take Brutus! He's fastest!" and Zelda veers towards him. The other sales woman throws her a shield, and she catches it, tucks it under her feet, and she's off.

"I'll pay later!" she shouts, but the words might be eaten by the desert.

She can see the footsoldier in the distance, and seeing Brutus in action is not the same as flying behind him. This seal is so fast her feet threaten to rip out from under her. They're gaining—little by little they're gaining. If only she had the slate, she could use stasis on the footsoldier. She could search the desert for half-buried treasure chests and hurl one at him. She could at least throw bombs and hope to spook his sand seal.

It dawns on her then that she's in her comfortable pajamas. Her only footwear are fuzzy slippers that keep threatening to slip off. Her hair is a wild mess.

They're half way through the desert before she catches up with the footsoldier. She tries to hold the sand seal's reins and fire off an arrow, an activity that's even more unwieldly than it sounds. The footsoldier sways left and right at the end of the reins, he bumps over every little sand hill. Zelda suspects he's fighting with his ride. It would be hard to get a good shot even if she wasn't controlling her own seal.

The arrow goes wide, landing in front of him, and he jerks his head around, noticing her for the first time. Looking backwards, he's not swaying as much, and she gets off another shot. It grazes his arm even though he jerks away and nearly falls.

He struggles to get out his own bow, and for a second her heart squeezes ice into her veins, because she doesn't know what she can do to dodge it. She swerves a serpentine pattern as well, hoping it will be enough. She briefly considers shooting his sand seal, but...no, she's not going to do that.

He turns to fire at her, still trying to hold onto his seal, but then hits a bump and drops his bow into the sand, and jerks around to catch his balance. Zelda breathes a sigh of relief.

He buckles down and pushes his seal faster. Zelda does the same. The mountains rise taller and taller, their shadows creeping ever closer over the sand.

When they reach the Seven Heroines, the Yiga throws himself off his shield and puffs away in a shower of red paper. He reappears high above her, on the shoulder of one of the sisters. She pulls out her bow and shoots again, but he teleports away, the arrow passing through his cloud of smoke.

She knows where he's going. If she had the slate she would warp there, but she doesn't have the slate. If she were Link, she'd throw herself up the mountain, climbing and leaping after him, but she already has a stitch in her side.

She must have dropped more arrows than she thought, because she's almost out. When she's out, she'll be basically unarmed. Well, no, she does have a sword somewhere. She just doesn't know how to use it.

She knows enough. She pulls it out and drops flint into a dry desert bush, sparking it with the sword and setting the bush alight. Hot air whips up from the fire, and she hesitantly holds her paraglider over the flames. She barely holds on as she shoots upwards, and nearly catches up with the footsoldier before her air current runs out and she has to find another bush. A few more stomach dropping lifts and she's at the top of the high plateau.

The barricades are on fire, smoke thick in the air. It's too dark to see much beside the hulking figure of Vah Naboris, lit up in oranges and yellows, looming over her like Ganon. Her lungs stutter at the sight. In the distance behind Vah Naboris, part of the battle still rages on the ground, figures flickering in and out like shadows, like demons. The air smells of blood and smoke. The footsoldier is nowhere to be seen.

The footsoldier. The thought of him pulls her from her panic.

She knows where he's going. She takes a few deep, steadying breaths, bouncing on her toes, then runs full tilt at the nearest burning barricade. She brushes the fire with the tips of her fluffy shoes before she's airborne. Her air current overshoots the balcony, and she has to do some clumsy maneuvering to get under the awning. She's getting clumsy and sloppy, her arms are burning, but she has to keep moving.

She can hear the sounds of battle coming from within, and when she bursts out on the high catwalk over the main room, she slams to a stop. The floor is crowded with violence, Gerudo and Yiga and swords and puffs of red. Geysers rip open the floor in great streaks, throwing people regardless of what side they're on.

And there, down below is the one who stole her slate. He ducks and weaves through the fight, charging his way through the chaos to the main control unit in the center of the room. A high pitched whistle and her eyes fall on Link, who's rushing to intercept the footsoldier. He looks absolutely murderous.

Before Zelda can feel relief, before Link does anything to give himself away, at least not that she can tell, he's punched hard in the side of the head by a Blademaster, also rushing to the main control unit. Link roars, "Kanna!" flips himself back to his feet and charges after him.

Zelda's stomach drops. Maybe it was all for nothing, because Kanna is determined to be the Yiga Champion no matter what anyone else says.

From the other side of the room, Barta fights her way forward too, and they all converge on the control unit. She's behind the others, but moving fast and from the opposite direction.

Zelda draws her bow. Aims her last arrow. Shoots the footsoldier between the shoulder blades as he lifts the slate to the control unit.

He screams and arcs his back, dropping the slate to the catwalk and falling backwards into the violence below. Link and Kanna scramble for the slate as Barta charges up the stairs. Link has Kanna on the ground, pinned beneath his knees, one hand on his throat, but Kanna has the slate, and his arm is long enough to reach up with it and tap it to the console.

The control unit lights so bright that it bathes the whole room in blue. Strands of power surge outward, swirling, seeking. With both arms now free, Kanna manages to throw Link off him just as Barta runs up to take his place, the clash of their swords ringing and sparking. The glowing blue tendrils sway back and forth, hesitating far longer than they did with Yunobo or Amali, as if their true Champion isn't there. They look at Barta, then at Kanna, then at Link as he's back on his feet, swinging the Master Sword, and Kanna is holding off both of them.

Vah Naboris decides.

The strands of light rear back.

And aim for Kanna.

Zelda screams, "NO!" and suddenly they halt. Hang, sparkling in the air.

Then they veer and swirl around the Yiga and past him and fly for Zelda so fast that she should throw up her arms, but she's not fast enough. The strands slam into her chest so hard it throws back her head and her arms. So much power courses through her. The fizzle over her skin doesn't show the half of it. The power is in her blood, in her marrow, it surges through her brain. She can see with Naboris' eyes, sense the electric currents around her, inside her. She has readings of pressure gauges and torsion and current and ampage. She can see where the beast is damaged, like a diagram behind her eyes. She can tell how many people are inside her and where they stand. She knows how to ramp up the generators.

Holding Naboris feels like the Goddess' power awakening once more. Or at least it does until the Goddess' power within her surges and melds with Naboris. They blend and build and she can't see through her own eyes, breathe with her own lungs. She's glowing gold and blue, the power leaking out in sparks and mist off her skin, her toes lifting from the floor.

Distantly, she knows she drops a slipper. Distantly, she knows one of the Yiga shoots at her, only for the arrows to still five feet from her body then disintegrate into the air. Distantly, she knows the same thing happens with a thrown windcleaver.

She can see the mechanisms to move Naboris, to control her if not contain her. It's not instinctive, but it's logical. A turn of a valve here will increase the pressure there. Like a newborn foal, she rises, gets her front feet under her, then her back legs. Everyone inside loses their footing. They brace themselves and shriek. Some dash to run away. With a thousand clicks, her neck stretches, turns, and an inhuman noise like a cry escapes her engines.

The engines! She can see them! She can see every cog and pulse and circuit. They call to her to investigate, everything she's ever wanted. Total understanding just a heartbeat away.

 _Come back, little bird._

It's not Urbosa. It's Naboris speaking with her voice. They were so entwined that part of Urbosa remains in the beast's circuitry.

And the Divine Beast is right. She has a job to do. She's losing herself to the machine. Or is she losing herself to the Goddess, desperately wanting to please her, to show she's worthy.

 _Zelda_.

Her name is Zelda.

The air crackles with static as the belts chugging through Naboris' upper domes get up to speed. Link looks to the ceiling, sensing the change in the air, and grabs Barta's arm and jumps, throwing them both off the catwalk a split second before lightning arcs through the room and bashes into Kanna. The strike is so loud it nearly drowns out the yelps of surprise. Kanna stands frozen a moment, surrounded in white light so only his silhouette is visible, so the image is imprinted on every eye in the room.

Maybe the Yiga were onto something trying to find a Champion immune to lightning.

Kanna falls. Everyone scrambles. Link is shouting her name, charging the wrong way through the crowd and up the ramp to reach her.

She turns her head—Naboris' head—her head to look across the desert toward the Yiga hideout—so far, and yet she can click lenses into place and see it so clearly. She could walk there in a matter of minutes. But there's no need.

She powers up the laser and fires.


	45. Chapter 45 Gerudo Desert

The Gerudo whispered as they rode across the desert, carried in the belly of the Divine Beast with their captive Yiga.

They whispered warily about what the girl had done. Did you see it? they asked, shooting queasy looks at the charred body on the floor. It was still smoking. What _was_ that? She'd controlled lightning. Like Urbosa. Vah Naboris must grant lightning powers to her pilot. Or maybe the girl already had lightning powers and that's why Naboris chose her. Either way, it was a bad idea to get on the girl's bad side.

They whispered reverently that Vah Naboris had chosen her. Out of everyone in the room it had chosen her. It had flown over and past so many great candidates to get to her. There must be something special about her. Something worthy. And she wielded the machine with such power that the Divine Beast must have known what it was doing in picking her.

They whispered angrily about the girl who'd stolen their Divine Beast. Vah Naboris belonged to the Gerudo. They wouldn't stand for this. Riju wouldn't stand for this. Some said she was a Divine Beast expert, but now it seemed more like this was her plan all along. What was the point of the tournament if she was just going to swoop in at the last minute? No, this wouldn't stand. Naboris had been stopped before. It could be stopped again. Even if they had to go to war, they would do so gladly.

Who was she? She'd been so quiet those weeks she'd been in the desert. Always in the background. Always to the side. But always there. Always honored.

What were they going to do? Would she just walk off with their Divine Beast? Would Riju be forced to make her an honorary Gerudo?

She could speak Gerudo, they said. She knew their customs. She knew their dances.

Did they see her Hylian voe at the end of the battle? It was almost like he'd tried to take Vah Naboris too. Maybe the girl had manipulated him into thinking it would be him, when her plan all along was that it would be her.

Now Gerudo Town was drawing every closer. It was hard to feel grateful that the girl was taking them home, that she was taking mercy on them and not electrocuting them all. Now that they stood on such shaky ground, it was even hard to even be glad they'd had won the battle.

#

Once she stops glowing and crackling, once the remaining Yiga have been restrained, she sequesters herself away in one of the upper domes. She sits on the floor, closes her eyes, and leans back against the wall. Now that their pressing work is done, Naboris excitedly shows her the hydraulic system, tugging at her attention. She happily follows. She sees the reservoir of blue fluid, the simple but massive pump in Naboris' chest, the relief valve and the directional control valves. They move their way through the system, flowing along with the liquid as it chugs through the pipes, each new component stamping itself into Zelda's memory. It tickles, almost as if it's rewiring her brain. Naboris shows her the actuator and the massive pistons, chugging, chugging as Naboris walks. They're working their way into Naboris' legs, the force of the pistons dispersed into smaller, more flexible parts when she notices that someone is patting her cheek.

"Zelda. Come on, Zelda, talk to me. You need to open your eyes. Open your eyes right now."

What's he on about? She and Naboris are both annoyed to be interrupted, but she brings her attention back to her body and opens her eyes.

Link heaves a sigh of relief and scrapes his fingers through his hair. "Can you speak?"

"Of course, I can."

He runs his hands over her face, her shoulders, her arms, checking her for injury. "Are you hurt?"

"No."

 _Little bird?_ Naboris pulls at her consciousness again. The Divine Beast has been alone for so long. She's so glad that Zelda's with her. She wants to wrap Zelda up in love and hold her warm and close. Naboris can see all the pain, all the failures, and just wants to soothe them all away. Naboris would never think Zelda's research was a waste of time. Naboris could help. _Come see_.

"Naboris wants to show me the pistons," she says. She closes her eyes again.

"Wait. Zelda. You didn't answer my question."

What question? _It doesn't matter._ It really doesn't. He can see that she's fine. She's just researching and needs to not be interrupted for a while. This is the discovery of a lifetime! She's been waiting for this moment for a century! Link surely understands.

A sliver of her concentration watches him with Naboris' senses. He leans back. He pulls his Sheikah face mask off, then unwinds his scarf. He looks up when feet pound through the door and Barta skids to a stop beside him.

"Oh shit. Is she—" Then she looks up, out the windows. "She can't be. We're still moving."

Link shakes his head as if he doesn't understand. "Pilots see through their Divine Beast's eyes, and it's hard at first to get used to the double vision. Amali would get some really bad headaches. I think she just needs to have all her attention on walking us to Gerudo Town."

Naboris cuts off her explanation of the jointed series that makes up each leg to share in Zelda's afront and confusion. That's not it at all!

Barta nods, frowning, not understanding and not liking what she does understand.

Zelda's so irritated with the both of them that she tunes them out, and snuggles deeper into Naboris' wisdom. Naboris' feet are badly damaged, and the specs of thick glass and wiring flash through her mind.

Something brushes her foot and it's ticklish enough to draw her attention once again. Link has hooked her slipper back onto her bare foot. He's changed into his Champion's tunic, and he's sitting on the floor beside her, facing the door, watching over her.

Zelda gets back to work.

#

As Amali got the hang of things and settled her family into a nice routine, Medoh started showing bits and pieces of her personality. At first it was simply offering up suggestions rather than blindly following Amali's orders. That was a welcome turn of events. And then Medoh started showing a bit of a stubborn streak. Not flat out disobeying, but more a feeling of grumpiness when Amali told her to do something she didn't want to do. Amali assumed that anything she raised just ended up that way, whether it be a flock of daughters or a hulking, ancient machine.

She knew how to handle stubbornness. "Oh, you don't feel like turning south? I'm sorry. That's very sad for you, dear, because we're turning south now."

They were at a comfortable point in their relationship. And when her daughters kept itching to leave the shelter of the Divine Best and venture out into Eldin, where the air was literally on fire, Amali made the call and left as soon as the shipments were packed and she was done speaking to Yunobo. They left in the evening and would land in Terry Town just after sunrise. She allowed Medoh the honor of flying unsupervised while she slept. At two in the morning she woke to her stomach dropping and a box of the girls' toys sliding across the floor. She reached for Medoh to find that the beast was spinning quick loops around Mount Lanayru, diving to terrorize the wildlife and scoop up stray lizalfos to toss them lazily back to the snow.

"Medoh!"

Then something truly shocking happened.

Medoh answered. With words.

Amali nearly had a heart attack. For a heart-stopping moment, she thought someone had snuck on board, was in the room. She'd heard it clear as a bell. But she saw no one. She checked Medoh's sensors, and it was true: she and her sleeping daughters were alone.

Had Medoh _spoken_?

She tried to ignore it. Tried to push it aside until she could ask Zelda about it. At the very least she tried to not let it affect her relationship with Medoh, but it was disquieting. It nagged at her even days later, when Link warped in unannounced, looking harried and sleepless.

She turned from the work going on in Medoh's lower level. "Link? What's wrong?"

"How soon can you make it to Gerudo Town?"

That didn't sound good. "We're in Lurelin, packing up now." She waved an arm to the floor below, where the fishermen were securing a huge haul of crabs. "I was planning to get there tomorrow afternoon. Why? What happened?"

"Vah Naboris picked Zelda as her pilot."

"What?"

"And now Zel is just lying there. I can't get her to snap out of it. Every now and then she grumbles at me that she's busy—that she's working and studying the—the circulatory system? She barely even opens her eyes before she goes back to sleep!"

Amali frowned. "That's...not right. She should be able to handle it, unless Naboris is broken somehow. Something's definitely wrong. Maybe they're...Goddess, I wouldn't even know where to start."

If anyone else was having this problem, her suggestion would be to ask Zelda. Without her...she had no idea what they should do.

Link sucked in a breath through his teeth, trying to keep his temper and his panic in check. "Think on it," he said. "And hurry." And with that he warped away.

Amali reached out to Medoh. "Any ideas?"

Medoh had no clue.

"She said she's studying? What does that mean? Is there—I don't know—" She was too out of her element, she was too... "Okay, if I were Zelda, and I wanted to know more about how you worked, what would you show me?"

Medoh seemed skeptical, before offering up that there was a diagnostic program.

"What's that like?"

Boring.

Amali huffed. "Well, show it to me anyway."

Medoh thought that was a useless idea, but if that's really what she wanted... Suddenly Amali was sucked from her body into the machinery of a single propeller on Medoh's left wing. The images, the stream of data, felt like a dull drone as Medoh explained all the parts, each flashing across Amali's vision, burning itself into her brain. She tried to shake it off, look away. She couldn't see from her own eyes, or even from Medoh's eyes. She couldn't feel her face or the tips of her wings. "Okay, okay! Let me back!"

She slammed back into her body with a gasp and a smug feeling from Medoh, that see? She'd warned her it was boring.

"Yes," Amali said, pressing a hand to her stomach, "but it's exactly the kind of thing Zelda would love. She would just live there if she had the...Oh. Oh no."

#

Zelda learns about the electromagnetic shielding Naboris has on select rooms inside the beast. She learns about the alloy from which the beast is made. She learns about the processors that control the flow of information. She learns about signal degradation in the blue liquid as it's transferred and how it is replicated in order to be replenished. She thinks she could make more of the blue liquid with Purah's help. She can see how she would program the liquid, what she would have to build, and what she would have to adjust on the guidance stone at the tech lab.

"Zelda? Zelda, wake up now."

Link used to be much better about giving her space and quiet to work. Perhaps his new development of begging her attention every five minutes is because he can't look over her shoulder the whole time and watch what she's doing. Maybe it's because she hasn't given him a way to help. She doesn't have him wielding a sledgehammer or gathering wood or killing monsters for parts. She does have a list of materials she'll need to repair Naboris' feet. She could give him that.

"Naboris, I need her help a moment. I'm having a problem with Vah Medoh."

Vah Medoh?

That's not Link's voice.

She opens her eyes. She's still up in the dome, but she's been moved. The plush rug is back, and she's lying on top of it with a bunch of pillows. She doesn't remember that happening.

Link must have moved her, so _there's nothing to worry about_.

He hovers over her and his shoulders loosen when she blinks at him. But then his face turns stony, and he lifts a cup to her face. "Drink this."

She pushes herself up on her elbows, and the room spins. Link braces her with a hand at the back of her neck and lifts the cup to her face again. "Drink."

The iron in his voice distracts from her sense of disorientation. "What is it?"

"Cucco broth."

She balks. "What? Why? I'm not sickly. I already told you, I'll eat in a little while."

"Sweetheart," a soft voice says, "You've been saying that for two days."

What? That can't be right. But then she recognizes the voice, the one that brought her out in the first place.

"Amali!" Zelda sits up too quickly, and spins on Amali as the Rito drops into a kneel beside her. Feathers flutter to stroke over her hair. She's so excited to explain everything she's discovered to the other pilot. "We've been working on it, and we know how to repair the shielding on Medoh. We also think we can make an oil that will work well in those last few stiff joints. I need paper. I'll write the recipe." She reaches for her pouches where she keeps her journals, but it looks like Link has removed her belt. "And what's happening with Medoh?" She lifts a few pillows and looks over the rim of her sleeping area. "Link, what did you do with my journals?"

Amali speaks as Zelda searches. "Medoh spoke. With words. I thought I was hearing them, but maybe they were just in my mind. I don't know, the girls were asleep, so I can't be sure."

Zelda hums, still searching for paper. "Link, _where is my belt_?"

"I'll give it back after you eat." He plops a tray onto the pillow next to her. It's arranged with a neat rows of vegetarian rice triangles. She blinks at them.

Amali says, "I need your help figuring out what happened."

There's not really anything to investigate. And Zelda needs her journals. She snatches up one of the rice triangles, looks Link in the eye and takes a pointed bite, holding out her free hand for him to return her belongings. She tries to hide it, but as soon as the rice hits her tongue she starts to salivate, and her stomach gives an unpleasant squeeze. Somehow they're right: it's been far too long since she's eaten. How did she let so much time get away from her? Well, it was worth it, and _no harm done_ , so it hardly matters. Link rolls his eyes and slips her belt from under one of the pillows near her feet. She holds the triangle in one hand, while she digs out her journal and a pencil with the other. It takes her a while for her mouth to be clear enough to explain to Amali. "It's nothing to worry about. Naboris speaks to me all the time. She primarily uses images or emotions, but for small, specific phrases she'll use words. Perhaps Medoh is just slower to trust than Naboris. But then again, Naboris already knows me."

Amali frowns. Clearly, this does not put her mind at ease. It must be hard knowing that she doesn't have as strong a bond as Zelda has with her beast. "Perhaps."

"What did Medoh say?" Link asks. He's softened a bit now that Zelda's eating.

Amali's frown drops to make room for an exasperated eye-roll. "She said, ' _Impressive, I know_.'"

Link snorts. "Very Rito."

"Yes. But...The thing that startled me most was that it—it was a man's voice."

Link's thinks on that. "Weird."

Zelda shakes her head and reaches for her second triangle, still writing her supply list. "Not really. It's just Revali. It's the part of him that imprinted onto the Divine Beast. When Medoh uses words, it's in his voice. It's his phrasing."

They let her work for a moment in silence while they process that everything is fine and the small mystery is now simply interesting.

At least, that's what she assumes until Link's spine stiffens so fast it's as if he's rearing away from her. "Oh hell!" he shouts.

Zelda's pencil jumps, leaving a stray line across the page. She looks up to scowl. Amali has both wingtips folded over her beak to contain her horror. But Link isn't holding any of his horror in.

"What is it?"

Link shakes his head slowly. His eyes dart up and down her body, then to the exits. He swallows hard. "You're saying that you've spent the last two days absorbed in ancient technology and talking to Urbosa?"

"...Yes?" Obviously.

He stares at her.

"Is there a problem?" she asks.

"The problem is that I couldn't make a better Zelda trap if I tried."

She huffs. "It's a Divine Beast, not a _trap_."

"It's a Divine Beast that belongs to the Gerudo, and it's making it impossible to disconnect you."

"Disconn—" She freezes. Naboris latches onto her so possessively that she chokes, her eyes roll, and she sways. Link shouts something and Amali grabs for her. No, she needs to stay here. She needs to talk to them. She has to explain. She can make them understand. Just one moment, she reassures Naboris. She promises, she'll be right back.

Naboris curls possessively around her but lets her float back into her body.

When her vision clears, both Link and Amali look terrified. Zelda speaks as soothingly and rationally as she can, which is difficult given that she's leaning pretty far to the right, bracing herself on one arm. "You can't disconnect us. We're doing good work. I'll be able to make solid repairs now that I know how things function. I understand now. And we'll be able to use the towers the way we've planned all along. And I think I'm close to understanding how the slate works. I could make you your own. I just need more time."

Amali says, "You _need_ to eat and sleep and leave this room."

"Alright. I'll stop for meals. We were just excited to get started." And to be together. _Come back now._ "We'll do a better job of paying attention. Just let us keep going."

Amali frowns. Her eyes tighten at the edges. "Sweetheart—"

"No," Link says. "We're getting you out now." He shoves up onto his feet, as if he's ready to—to what? What is his plan?

Naboris' tendrils tighten around her chest.

"No," she says.

"The longer you wait, the more painful it will be to let go."

"Let g—I don't—"

"You have to. You said so yourself. The only thing keeping the Gerudo from demanding at spear point that you hand over Naboris is that until five minutes ago you were basically catatonic. We've been waiting for Amali to come help shake you out of it."

"Well, now that you understand, you can just explain to them that I'm doing important work."

"You're not acting like yourself. You care too much about rebuilding Hyrule to throw it away for this."

She narrows her eyes at him. "That's the way it always is, isn't it? Hyrule or what I want, what I've wanted this my whole life! What I've put aside time and time and time again."

" _This_ is what you want? To abandon all your friends—people who are here, now. People who need you to make the right call—for a memory of someone you lost? You spent a hundred years locked away, and now you want to do it _more_?"

"You don't understand!"

"I understand that if Yunobo were knocked out on the floor, you'd have pulled the plug immediately. I understand that if Naboris chose me as her pilot, you'd be saying the exact same thing I'm telling you right now."

"But she didn't choose you. She chose _me_! She knows _me_! She loves _me_! All the other potential champions were there, and she rejected them for me. She doesn't want them. The transfer won't work."

"Then you have to convince her to let go, because I'm not losing you to a Gerudo guard who sneaks in and kills you, and I'm not losing you to some machine that goes in and messes with your head!"

"And I'm not losing her! I've already lost her once!"

Arms reach for her. Suddenly, she's surrounded by feathers, by a warm embrace that cradles her in such a tactile way that it's shocking. For a second her mind is completely blank.

It feels so different from how Naboris has held her these past few days. She's being cradled and rocked. She's being mothered as she hasn't been since Urbosa. _I mother you._ Yes. Zelda wants Amali to let her go. She twitches and tugs, Naboris trying to get a grip on her heart and pull her back, but the phantom in her head doesn't have the same strength as the power in Amali's wings.

Tears are falling from her eyes. Zelda moves slowly, lifting her arms, until she returns the embrace. Then her fists clamp in Amali's wing feathers. She's shaking. Her chest heaves.

Amali whispers, "I'm so sorry, my darling. You've lost so much."

Zelda can't stop shaking.

Naboris reaches out to touch her, to soothe and tempt her. _It's alright._ But it feels cold.

Naboris quiets, her voice dampened as if it can't quite reach Zelda through Amali's feathers. Shielded by wings and motherly love, the clarity of her situation hits her like a brick.

Something is wrong with her. What on earth has she done?

"This won't bring her back," Amali says. "If you stay here, you can never move on."

Move on. That's what this has been about since the beginning.

She's yet to be successful.

Zelda gasps with panic. She grips Amali harder. "I don't know how to leave her. I don't think she'll let me. I don't want to abandon her again."

"You won't," Link says softly. One of his hands squeezes her ankle. The other rubs soothing circles on her lower back. Those are the only parts of her he can reach. The rest of her is shrouded in Amali's wings. "You're just helping Naboris move on too."

"You'll always be a part of her," Amali says, and Zelda doesn't know if she's talking about Naboris or Urbosa.

She can feel Naboris prodding, trying to get back in, whining in distress.

As quietly as she can, she murmurs, "I feel strange."

Amali whispers into her hair, "That's because Naboris is broken."

Zelda nods. She can tell that now. It's murky, as if she can almost make out the shape of the problem through a fog.

Amali holds her until the shaking eases, although it never goes away.

"Come. Get dressed," Amali says. "We're going to make this right."


	46. Chapter 46 Gerudo Desert

Amali helps Zelda get cleaned up. Her hair gets combed and braided back, and even though she can still feel whisps of too short hair itching against the sides of her face, Amali says she looks lovely and Zelda can't help but believe her. Zelda's face gets scrubbed. She eats another two vegitarian rice triangles and brushes her teeth and uses the washroom. She gets dressed in her bright red shirt and her traveling pants, and when she's done, she feels more like herself, even with the foggy cloud of Naboris hanging in the back of her mind, trying to push her way in, trying to lure her back. The Divine Beast is successful enough that Zelda zones out several times while getting ready But Amali has braided her hair so she can give it an easy tug, jerking her back to herself. Zelda appreciates it, but her scalp does not. 

With the zoning out and the weakness in her limbs, it takes far longer than she would like before Zelda looks presentable. Amali has sent Link with a long list of errands, and he gets back just as Zelda steps off Naboris and onto the sand. Kass is with him, and Amali rushes forward to throw her arms around his neck. He spins, sending her swinging around and laughing, and it's only because her body swings out that she doesn't squash his accordion.

Link hesitates, giving her a shy, worried look. She's still irrationally angry that he wanted to tear her from Naboris. She knows deep in her bones that he most definitely had a half-dozen ill conceived plans to kidnap her away or blow up the main control until or activate Vah Ruta solely in order to battle the two Divine Beasts against each other. But even though she's angry, she still makes the first move to step close to him. She doesn't meet his eyes, but brushes her fingers against the back of his hand.

He sweeps her into a hug, and she's still woozy enough that it almost throws her off balance. He holds her up, a firm hand clutching the back of her shirt, one hand digging into her braid. He presses his face hard to the side of her head. "You scared me."

Her arms loosen from where they're trapped against his chest, her shoulders easing as she sinks against him. She can't quite bring herself to give an adequate closes her eyes and presses her forehead to his shoulder. "Thank you."

He releases her when Kass and Amali step closer. As if he can sense her weak knees, Link doesn't pull away entirely. He holds her elbow as he digs yards and yards of white fabric from his pockets, handing one end to Amali even as he continues to pull out more. He looks a bit like a street magician. Finally, they get everything sorted so the fabric takes shape as four white shawls of thin, translucent fabric. Amali drapes one over Zelda's shoulders and wraps it once over her head, before repeating the process for herself.

They're traditional Gerudo funeral scarves. The color of morning. Covering their heads in reverence.

Zelda's fist bites so hard into the end of the fabric that hangs down her chest that her nails snag in the flimsy fabric.

Link then presents her with a shield. The colors are vivid, the gold shining in a sunburst pattern. The jewels set inside it are sharply cut and glinting. The Daybreaker. Urbosa's shield.

"She would want you to have this."

She swallows hard, fighting her voice into working. "It's going right back up on the wall where you had it."

"But it will be yours."

She shakes her head. She can't take her eyes from the dance of light against the ruby in the center. "You deserve it more."

He lowers his head just a fraction to whisper to her. "I'll keep the sword, and we'll call it even." 

She wraps her arms around the shield, hugging it to her chest. "Why are you doing this?"

"You didn't get to say goodbye."

She feels the tears as they gather under her chin before she feels the burn in her eyes.

Kass clears his throat. The feathers on his head make his funeral scarf pop up on top. "If you don't mind," he says gently, "there's a song I'd like to share with you." 

She nods her head, and they look out at the sun setting over the desert, the light and the sand as golden as the shield in her arms. She forces her eyes open, forces herself to face the setting sun, forces herself not to duck her head and hide, not to fall back into Naboris. The Divine Beast listens too, swinging back and forth between heartbroken curiosity and not wanting to hear, not wanting Zelda to hear. They listen to Kass sing. The song is of Urbosa's strong leadership, of her love and kindness, of her fierce protectiveness and decisiveness with a blade. When she spun with her sword it looked as if she were dancing. It's a clearer picture of Urbosa than the voice that whispers at the tips of her ears. Kass reminds her of her bright blue lipstick and the sweep of her eyebrows. Zelda hadn't thought of those specifically in ages, and she smiles at the reminder. She hugs the shield tighter. 

They stand quietly when the song ends. The last notes fade into the desert and she can't pinpoint the moment when they vanish under the wind.

She looks up as the stars twinkle into the sky, and she breathes deeply, letting her eyes slip closed, holding onto that memory of Urbosa's smirk over her sword.

"Goodbye," she says. "May the Goddess smile upon you."

#

A delegation of Gerudo arive in the main room the next morning. Zelda keeps her shoulders back and her chin lifted. She clenches her hands into fists so she doesn't wring them together. 

"Zelda!" Riju says. The chief bounces up and kisses her on both cheeks. When she pulls back, her warm smile is at odds with the sharp, warning look in her eyes. "It's so good to see you recovered." 

"It's good to be up and about again."

"I'm sure." Riju turns and guides her to the rest of the delegation, who stand pointedly in front of the main control unit. Buliara is there, along with Captain Teake and Barta, and Zelda has no illusion that they won't hesitate to stab her should she try anything underhanded.

She tugs up a smile for Barta. "Are you ready?"

Barta's back is stiff, her hand clenching and unclenching around her spear. She saw what happened to Zelda and looks concerned the same thing will happen to her. Or maybe she just thinks Zelda is weak and is concerned that Naboris has now caught her weakness. "As ready as I'll ever be, I guess. Are you ready?"

"Let me sing your praises for a moment."

Zelda closes her eyes. Link's hand snags around her upper arm and squeezes, and she reaches over to drum her fingers against his hand. _I'm here. Just thinking._

_Naboris, this is your pilot. Her name is Barta._

Naboris argues that Zelda is her pilot.

 _No. I'm a friend of your last pilot. I need to help others around Hyrule, and you need to stay with the Gerudo. We both have jobs to do._

Naboris presses that Zelda likes it here. She tugs Zelda towards the diagnostic program. When Zelda digs in her heels and refuses, Naboris sends her a flash of an image: Link kissing down her throat on the balcony. Zelda's face flames.

 _You were deactivated for that!_

Naboris saw it in her memories. And either way, Naboris isn't wrong. 

Link squeezes her arm again. She's stopped drumming her fingers. She resumes as soon as she notices. 

_Don't go showing that to your new pilot_.

Naboris points out that there's only one way to keep that from happening.

 _You can't blackmail me. It's not that embarrassing._

Naboris doesn't believe her. 

She's irritated enough that she changes the subject. She shows Naboris her memories of Barta fighting the mulduga and riding the waves of sand with liquid grace. Memories of Barta racing against Tali, the undefeated champion of sand seal racing and nearly winning. Of her sneaking into the throne room to eaves drop. Of her defending Naboris against the Yiga in the final battle.

Naboris shifts her attention to scan the Gerudo up and down.

 _She'll enjoy getting up to no good with you._

Naboris thinks about it, at the precipice of a decision.

Before she can make it, Zelda opens her eyes and steps forward. "It may be a difficult transition. Be welcoming and encouraging, she'll be able to sense your hesitation. But don't let her walk all over you either."

Barta nods, and Zelda makes quick adjustments on the slate. _Little bird..._ She squeezes her eyes closed and slams the slate to the console. Blue energy rips across her skin. Every strand of Naboris rips from from her bones, sucked to the surface. The painfulness feels purposeful, vindictive. It's dragged up from her fingertips, from her toes, until it congregates in a bright ball in the center of her chest. It's so much pressure that she can't breathe, she can't see through the light, and when she wins the battle for an in-drawn breath, Naboris is forced out of her to crash against the control unit, reabsorbed even as particles of blue liquid splatter into the air.

It's as if the framing holding her up has vanished, and her legs give out beneath her. She catches herself on the console, and Link catches her under her armpits. He vision is cloudy. Her limbs are light and brittle, as if she'll float away or disintegrate. It's suddenly very lonely in her head, as if she's standing in a large, empty cave. Her lungs have too much room. And at the same time, it's almost like waking from a dream. Her mind is working clearly for the first time in days. With numb, shaking fingers, she sets a new program on the slate and sets it to the control panel.

The blue strands of light rise from the control unit. They're slower this time. Hesitant. They turn towards her, and she hardens her heart even as it breaks. _No. Not me._ They hover before her, waiting for any sign of weakness, and she narrows her eyes at them. The main shape of them doesn't seem to change, but the individual strands inside swirl faster, agitated. Like a school of fish swimming faster and faster inside their ball. When they turn on Barta, it's with a wild, swinging motion, so much like the movement of Naboris' neck. Barta gasps as they stab into her chest. She looks down at her arms as they swarm with blue designs, with symbols that fade into her skin. She closes her eyes, and takes a deep, unsteady breath as Zelda heaves a sigh of relief.

"How do you feel?" Zelda asks.

"It's...strange. I feel a pressure." Barta lifts a hand to the side of her head, another to her chest.

"Are you in communication with her?"

"I think so. I can feel...curiosity."

"Good. That's excellent."

Barta takes a moment to get used to it. A slow smile spreads across her face. She opens her eyes. "I think I can get her to move. How do I do that? How does that wor-"

Barta's eyes lose focus. Her body goes slack. Amali and Captain Teake grab for her to keep her from hitting the ground.

Zelda freezes. Barta has activated the diagnostic system. How has she-That's not something she'd be interested in.

Naboris is activating the system when she shouldn't be. Dragging her pilot down. It's not just Zelda, who asked. There's something actually wrong.

Zelda ducks under the control panel and strokes her fingers along one of the constellations emblazoned there. She presses against the stars in order, and an access panel pops open. She flips onto her back and slides inside the control unit, and-yes-there is most definitely a problem.

All the different tube-like wires, all woven together like a korok blanket come into the base structure from the onion dome above. They're supposed to be gathered together, secured to the base's roof and dragged together into a central mass, a column of wires. A large section has fallen from where it was secured to the top of the little enclosure. It now hangs down like a fishing net, and far too close to a glowing pipe, which provides power to the main control unit from the central generator in Naboris' chest. The wires are so hot that they're sweating, blue liquid dampening the outside casing, dripping onto the floor. The air is humid and smells of ozone.

"I need string," Zelda calls. "Or rope or wire."

"I've got a belt," Link calls back.

"I've got Barta's contestant scarf," says Captain Teake.

"Both." Zelda hauls the whole mess of wires up and out of the way, securing them back to the ceiling with a few quick loops of Link's belt. Blue liquid splatters across her arms, staining her hands. She mops up the wet wires with Barta's scarf, then hands it back out. Someone takes it from her.

"I need shielding. A sheet of metal maybe this big by this big." She holds her hands out to show the dimensions, and before she can pull them back, something is shoved into her hands. It's a shield. Oddly shaped with a Shiekah eye.

Link is kneeling, leaning in over her bent knees to watch her. "Let me know if you need something stronger. Or bigger."

She doesn't. The second she covers the pipe, the temperature drops ten degrees, and from out on the catwalk, Barta gives a startled gasp.

"What was that? Naboris just told me way too much about the air circulation system."

Amali nods. "And she wouldn't let you look away."

"Or even only half pay attention. She inserted it all straight into my brain!"

Zelda grabs the sides of the access panel and slides herself out. "Is it better now?"

Barta is sitting up, rubbing her eyes. "Well, she's not trying to give me a quiz, so yeah, this is an improvement. Actually, she seems...startled. Like she doesn't know what happened?"

Zelda knows the feeling.

"I think she feels embarrassed. Sorry." Barta stares off into space for a moment. Her face softens.

Zelda nods. "Are you ready to try to move her again?"

Barta straightens her shoulders. There's a light in her eyes. She's faced with an unpredictable challenge, and those are clearly her favorite. "Let's do it."

Barta does not grasp piloting as intuitively as Zelda did, with the aid of the Goddess and a hundred years of research and a crash course in leg movements imprinted into her brain. But then again, Naboris' gait is odd. She moves both legs on one side at the same time. It's not surprising that Barta has trouble with it, that she subconsciously swings her arms from the shoulder every time Naboris takes a step. They manage a few circles around Gerudo Town, with Riju preening from the balcony even as the Divine Beast rocks wildly side to side.

When they're done for the day, Barta starts arguing with the air about how the Divine Beast needs to lower to the ground. She sounds just as she did when she told her sand-seal that she was a stinky, drooly good girl. The descent to the ground is more a crash than a kneel, but they all manage to get back on their feet, so it's good enough.

As the rest of the group heads back into town, Link snags Zelda's elbow and holds her back. He doesn't say anything, just pulls her into his arms. Almost like he knows what a front she's put up today, how hard she's had to pretend that she was okay. She stops pretending. She presses her face to his neck and clutches at the back of his shirt. The tears are quiet. They leak out like the tubes in Naboris.

"You did good," he says.

"It was hard."

He leans the side of his head against hers. "But you did it."

She can feel his smile against her head. "And now you're back. And covered in blue gunk."

"Sorry." She tries to pull away so she won't stain his clothes any more than she already has. But he holds her in place. He whispers into her ear, "I like it."

She sniffs. "I like it too. Isn't that strange?"

"Not for you, Zelda."


	47. Chapter 47 Hateno

The house in Hateno is untouched. Zelda was expecting the door to be kicked in, the windows to be broken, the roof to be caved in. She expected scorch marks, or even for it to look like the shells of buildings now scattered around Hyrule. She was expecting a ruin.

But it's still quiet. Familiar. Peaceful.

The inside is the same too, except the shelves where she kept her plants and her journals are bare, her research materials relocated to Pura's lab and her magically enhanced pockets. All of Link's displayed weapons, shining, unique pieces of culture and history, have been replaced with battered, mid-level armaments. There's a spiked boko club where the Lightscale Trident once hung. There's a sledgehammer in the spot for the Boulder Breaker and a second sledge hammer where the Scimitar of the Seven once stood. The first thing Link does, after he kicks off his boots and stretches, is swap everything out. He pulls out the Great Eagle Bow from his stores, and Zelda realizes that he's been carrying these treasured possessions around since they fled the house.

He takes a wooden shield painted with a blue fish off the wall, then steps back, gesturing her to the blank spot. It takes her a moment to realize what he's asking of her. When she sets the Daybreaker back in its place, it settles into the grooves of the display as if it missed being there.

Link smiles at her.

Zelda unpacks her sewing supplies and her Goron-made tools and lines her collection of journals back on the shelf. She then goes upstairs and takes a nap, curled in a ball.

They brave going into town that evening, because Link has a craving for dairy. Now that they're back in Hateno, not even an angry mob will stop him from eating something with both cheese and butter in it.

People look at them as they pass, but then they roll their eyes or scoff and move along. Zelda can't make sense of it. As they pay for their purchases at the general store, the woman behind the counter looks at her from the corner of her eye and says, "That was a dumb prank you played on people, saying that Divine Beast was coming."

Zelda blinks at her. Then at Link. Then back to the woman. Slowly she says, "When we realized how vehemently everyone didn't want the Divine Beast here, we warned her pilot to fly past Hateno."

The store owner rolls her eyes. "Sure you did, honey. And I got that one up on the volcano to stay away by beating the king of the Gorons at arm wrestling."

Zelda sucks in breath to protest, but she doesn't know where to start, and Link hooks an arm around her waist to steer her out of the store. Over her shoulder, she splitters, "The Gorons don't even have a king!"

As soon as they're out on the street, she finds her voice. "They don't believe us! They have no idea of all the hard work we've been doing! They have no idea of how much things have progressed in the last few months. They don't know who we are! Oh, that sounded pretentious. But still! How could word not have reached them? What do we need to do to get them connected to the rest of Hyrule? You would think travelers from Lurelin would have made it here by now. Perhaps they're no longer making the journey, since they can sell their wares through Medoh. It is a long trip. But then you'd think they would notice the drop in visitors. Perhaps we should talk to Rozel and see if anyone is up for the journey, or encourage some of the Gerudo to make the trek to trade textiles. They could ride Medoh to Kakariko and go the rest of the way on foot. By the time they reached here, they'd be so irritable that they'd let everyone know that Hateno needs to be on Medoh's circuit."

She brainstorms the whole way to the house, only noticing at the door that Link is grinning.

"What is it?"

"I missed you."

She huffs. "This is serious. Hateno is tragically out of the loop."

"That is how they survived the Calamity."

"But the Calamity is over!"

He shrugs. "I kinda like that they don't know who we are. It makes it easier to relax."

She imagines it: living here for years while the townspeople think them to be eccentric outsiders. How could she work to move the rest of the country forward while living in a town obstinately locked in place? It would be like she was living a secret life.

But then again, would she and Link ever be more than outsiders anywhere?

Link cooks, and Zelda sits beside him at the cooking pot and starts to write. She has to get all her ideas, everything she's learned from Naboris out of her head before it all slips away. It's all a bit frantic, half sentences and shorthand and arrows connecting thoughts.

Link holds out a plate of stuffed duck and bread that he bought instead of baked, and she takes it one handed without looking up. He pulls it back from her. She looks up to glare at him, and he offers, "I'll trade you." She reluctantly hands over her journal, so they can sit shoulder to shoulder and watch the evening sky while they eat.

She wipes her plate with the last of her bread to get every last bit of sauce, then holds out the dish to trade again. He's reluctant to hand back her journal, and as soon as she starts writing again, he leans in closer and watches her sketch.

"What are you working on?"

She doesn't appreciate the way he's obviously checking in on her, but she sucks down her irritation and twists her journal to show him. Her fingers drag over the sketches as she explains.

"This is a smaller version of the pressure system the Zora use. It moves water from the Zora River up through the crystal pillars and into the pools. They use the current of the river to power it, but we don't have that kind of natural power source at Frilly Pond. So I'm repurposing the piston system on Vah Naboris to power it. We'll be able to turn a crank at the top of the ravine to get the water flowing and pipe it up into the bathing room. It will be quicker and less physically demanding than the current system we have. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to use the ancient furnace and the tools I received from the Gorons to construct all the pipes. Assuming, of course, we can find some scrap metal or at least obtain some from the Gorons."

"Wait. So you're working on making the house nicer?"

"Yes." She looks up at him. "I'm also thinking about the repairs to Medoh, and what towers we should visit next, and how to do repairs on the Tabantha Great Bridge, and how I could start making you your own slate, and when we should make another visit to Zora's Domain, and how there's that nice crimson fabric at the store and I'll need some cold weather clothes soon. But I thought I'd start with this."

"Really?"

"I...yes?"

He kisses her. Deep and warm, cupping her face in both hands. It's sudden and overwhelming and welcome, and she's suddenly struck with the thought that it's been a while since he last kissed her like this. She tries to remember when. Before the battle on Naboris. Perhaps when they separated at the Yiga hideout. Link deepens the kiss, and she stops trying to remember.

They pull each other up, and he walks her backwards towards the house. They somehow manage to get there with their eyes closed and their lips sealed together and their legs knocking against each other. They make it as far as the stairs before their burst of coordination falters. They land together in a heap, spread over the stairs, and Link seems to decide that that's good enough. He kisses her harder, squeezing her in his hands as they drag from under her ribs to her hips to her thighs, as if he's wringing out all the parts of her that are holding her together and leaving her a raw, exposed nerve. His thumbs dip low on the inside of her thighs as he presses her legs apart so he can fit more snuggly against her. Her hand tightens in his hair, a sharp pull that makes him gasp and start a gentle rhythm rocking against her.

It's thrilling and taunting and the hopeful anticipation that sets her nerves on fire is nearly painful. The certainty that this is as far as he'll go looms over her.

She arches her back, trying for a better angle, and ends up with her chest in his face and one of his hands splayed between her shoulder blades to hold her there, and yes. Good. Good. Very good.

But not enough.

He presses his nose between her breasts, his forehead to her sternum, and he's breathing so hard she can feel it—hot and damp and needy—through her shirt. It spreads in puffs, rolling, tickling across her chest, and it's so good. So good. So good she wants more. If he'd just—If he would—

She tugs his hair, but he doesn't move.

She groans and drops her hands from his hair, her whole body deflating. "I hate the rules."

He stills and sighs. The warm draft of air from his mouth sends shuddering bursts across her skin, rolling like lightning in a thundercloud. He twists gently, rolling onto his back on the stairs and pulling her on top of him. "I know," he says, stroking his fingers through her hair. "I do too."

"Then why? Whatever knightly vows you took are null and void, and you hate all that pompous nonsense anyway. I'm not a princess anymore, and I promise you that no one will execute you for licking my breast."

He's sucks in a sharp breath, his eyes fixed determinedly on the ceiling. It takes him a long moment to manage, "I think the rules are pretty important."

"I know you do, but I don't understand why. You need to explain it to me."

"That's a first."

She narrows her eyes at him, and he must feel her disapproval, even though he's still not looking at her.

"I know they seem silly, but I also know how my fantasies go, so just trust me. They're good rules."

She tilts her head against his chest. "Well. I think I need to hear all about these fantasies before I can judge the effectiveness of the rules."

He snorts.

She props her hands under her chin and waits.

"What, really?"

"Yes."

"Like...now?"

"Yes."

"I—I just—"

She waits.

He sighs and lets his head fall back onto the stairs with a _thunk_. He rolls his shoulders, and the courage granted him by the Goddess is visible in the grim set of his jaw. "I think a lot about the way you took off the flamebreaker armor."

That's...unexpected.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Just...You did this thing. With your hands. You...crossed them over and pulled the armor up from the bottom. And then when you came out, your face was all flushed and your hair was all...And you looked so determined, and you were glaring at me the whole time." He tugs at the hem of her red shirt. "If you ever took this off like that, I think I might die. Or, you know, pin you down and..." He trails off, too embarrassed to put his thoughts into words or too lost in his imaginings to continue. He rubs the fabric between his fingers.

"I would like that," she says.

He drops her shirt to scrub his hand against his face. "Hylia and all that's holy, I want that so much."

"Then why aren't we doing that?"

"Because. It's just...I know you're not acting royalty, but you're still a public figure doing important work. You still have to sway people, and you need people to respect you, and you still have a reputation to uphold, and…I'd hate it if people thought less of you because of me. Because I couldn't control myself. I can't let that happen. You know?"

She doesn't.

He finally looks down at her, his face regretful, pleading. She wishes she could smile and reassure him, but this still makes no sense.

"I think it would be both of our faults, and not just yours," she says.

"Yeah, I know. But I didn't want to say it."

"Have there been people who've refused to work with us?" Maybe she missed it. Did she not notice? Surely she would have noticed that.

"Not yet."

"So...Why would that change?"

"Because we haven't had sex yet."

"No, but—"

"I know the rules don't say no sex, but I feel like if we just ignore the rules we have often enough, it'll be easier to just plow—plow straight through. And at least now if we slip up on one, we at least have a few others to keep all my resolve from crumbling and just..."

She stares at him. "So what you're saying is no sex, because people might judge me for my lustful ways."

"I wouldn't judge you," he hurries to say.

"I certainly hope not," she says. "And you're saying no glaring at you while I remove my clothes or reaching my hand down your pants, and no to you removing my underthings with your teeth and putting your tongue to good use, because those will lead to sex, which will lead to people judging me for my lustful ways."

A red flush blooms its way up his throat, where a couple of words catch without getting loose. She may have broken him.

"I...appreciate that you've put thought into this," she says slowly. "But. We are not exactly chaste as it is. Everyone we've met knows we live together. Half of Hyrule knows we sleep in the same bed whenever we can manage. Both the Rito and the Gerudo have publicly teased us for our physical affection for one another."

He's still having trouble speaking. "But. That's about...kissing and stuff."

"Link, you're not getting it! Everyone already assumes we're having sex. No one cares."

He blinks at her. "What?"

She raises her eyebrows. "How on earth would they know what we do in the privacy of our own home? It's not as if I'll turn bright green the moment we have vaginal intercourse."

He's not breathing, just staring at her in confusion.

"I can name three Zora and at least two people in Lurelin who think we're married," she says.

"What?"

"Yes."

"That's..." he shakes his head like he has water in his ear. "This whole time?"

"Pretty much."

"This _whole time_?"

"Yes."

He thunks his head back onto the steps.

She gives him a moment, then reaches up to press her hand to his cheek. "If you don't want to, that's a good enough reason, I just want to underst—"

"I want to."

"Good. Well. I mean. I don't think I'm quite ready for that yet. But I am ready for...other things."

He nods quickly. "Right. Yeah. Underthings. Tongue. Yes."

"That was just an example."

But he's nudging her hips, urging her to stand, mumbling something that sounds a lot like, "Teeth."

He pauses suddenly and looks up into her eyes. "Are you sure?"

"About wanting you to touch me? Of course, I'm sure."

"Okay. Good. Touching you. Tongue."

She laughs as he scrambles up and grabs her hand and pulls her upstairs.


	48. Chapter 48 Gret Plateau

Over the past few days, Zelda has made absolutely no progress on her house enhancement projects. She and Link have barely even gone outside.

They're dozing when there's a knock at the door, and Link startles awake, saying, "Zelda?"

She mutters and nuzzles her face against his bare chest. "Someone's at the door."

"Who?" he asks, as if she would know.

"It's every villager in Hateno. They sensed that I touched male genitalia, and now they're here to run us out of town."

"Mmm. Did your hand magically turn bright green?"

Without opening her eyes, she holds her hand up near his face. He takes hold of it and kisses her fingers. She assumes it has not turned green and places some kisses against his chest. Smooth and neat, he pulls her hand over his shoulder, drawing her up and sealing his lips over hers. It's easy and warm and soft, and he slips a comfortable hand into the back of her pajama pants to squeeze her rear and pull her closer.

They're new pajama pants, as she can't bring herself to look at what she wore on Naboris. They're the same comfy Gerudo make, printed with the latest Gerudo design craze: snapping clawed crabs. It's silly how proud she is of them. She likes the new sleep shirt slightly less, but it's clear Link likes it a great deal. The shirt is sky blue and shows off her cleavage.

Just as he rolls over her, there's another knock at the door.

"Link," she groans. "Answer the door."

"Hmm."

"What if it's Sidon, and he's traveled all the way here to see you?"

"What if it's Purah, and she wants to talk at me?"

She nudges him in the ribs until he grumbles his way out of bed. He fumbles around on the floor for his shirt and pads downstairs.

From the sound of it, it's Symin, come to deliver something. He seems intent on leaving rather quickly, which begs the question of why he didn't just drop whatever it was on the doorstep and leave.

When Link returns, he climbs back into bed, and slips rather gracefully under her. "It was Symin. He brought back your plants. They're in a box on the table."

Link is still wearing a shirt, which is disappointing, but probably for the best since he answered the door. She cracks an eye open and immediately sits up. "You're wearing my shirt."

He looks down at the red cotton he's wearing and says, "This is my shirt."

"Oh please. That hasn't been your shirt for months."

He thinks about that. "You stretched it out all weird."

She did no such thing.

And now that she's looking at Link, it's not surprising the Symin made such a hasty exit. Link's hair is disheveled, and he has not one but two bright red marks on the side of his neck. At least he's not wearing the shirt inside out.

The Goddess only knows what Link would do if he were actively trying to ruin her reputation.

She did ask him to get the door, so it's really her own fault. Not that it matters anyway.

She stretches and finger combs her hair, which turns out to be a much larger endeavor than she first suspected. She pulls the front part down in front of her face, stretching it as far as it will go. It's now down to her shoulders and has started peeking out from beneath her kerchief.

She sets her jaw and makes an attempt at braiding it. The braid comes out thinner than usual, so she has to gather more hair as she goes, locking it into place without the use of the old clips she used to use. She'll need to do a better job combing if she intends to wear this out of doors, but as a proof of concept, it seems to be working.

Link rubs a hand absently up and down her thigh as she works. When she gets the left half of the braid done, she steals the hairband that has slipped from Link's hair and ties off the end of the braid where it's hidden under her hair. "That looks good," Link says.

"Really?"

"Yeah." He sits up, reaches out, and pats it, like he's afraid of dislodging it. "I like the bandana, but this is nice."

"It's a kerchief," she explains, separating out the hair on the right side so she can braid that as well.

"Hey," he says, scooching slightly closer. "You can say no. But what do you think about coming with me to the last part of the Champion Trial? To whatever's waiting for me on the Great Plateau?"

She pauses her braiding, looking up at him through her pinched fingers. "What kind of trial do you expect?"

He shrugs. "Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe better. Even if it's fighting a million monsters, there's got to be another shrine at the end, right?"

"Do you—" She stops herself. Bites her lip. "If the previous trials had you relive the other Champion's final battles..."

"You think it will have me fight Ganon again?"

She frowns at her hair.

He rubs her arm and smiles at her. "Ganon wasn't that bad. I don't think I'd be even a little emotional to kick him around some more."

She hums and goes back to her braid. This side is going to look worse than the other. She can't shake the feeling that there's one more champion whose final battle he hasn't faced and come out victorious. She can't help but picture the plain full of guardians, surging like a tide in the dark, a dozen red beams dotting his chest. It was dark and drizzling and her feet were covered in mud.

She blinks. She's in the house in Hateno, and it's the bright of midday, and she's wearing pajamas with crabs on them.

"I'll come," she says. "But only for the shrines."

#

When they land in the Shrine of Resurrection, Link says, "Oh! Have you seen my bathtub?" He grabs her hand and pulls her towards the stasis chamber.

There's currently a korok inside it.

Link grins at her as if seeing this is a special treat for her, a piece of technology she's never even conceived of before, much less managed to restore to functionality on her own and then ordered its use on him in the moment of their greatest need.

Link gives it a fond look. "I spent most of my life in this bathtub. You could say I grew up here. This is kinda like me taking you home to meet the family!" He gestures at the korok, who giggles and squeaks, "Blessings!"

She stares at the both of them.

"Oh! And this is that terrible weapon I was telling you about, remember? The one-hit obliterator. Don't touch it."

She has no plans to touch it. "Where do you think the challenge is?"

"The voice said to put the slate in the slot thing."

"I don't believe a voice told you that."

"I'm paraphrasing." He slips the slate from her hands and sets it in the pedestal. It spins and twists, and with a sudden clunk all the beams of the door slide closed, sealing them in. She grabs for Link's arm in the dark, but before the fear can do more than squeeze her chest, the whole room shudders, and then the floor is moving, and she's holding Link's arm for balance now more than reassurance.

"We're lowering," she whispers, the thrill of new discovery pushing aside her fear. This room was an elevator all along. She spins around, searching the ceiling and the walls. The challenge must have lain dormant in the ground for eons.

Even as they continue downward, the door reopens, leading out onto the antechamber, which has turned into a balcony encased in the same force-field-like curtain that surrounds the Sheikah monks. They step out to a view of a tremendous cavern with what must be artificial light, but is so different from the light inside the shrines. Are they in a previously undiscovered pit? She tries to place where they are on the plateau. Maybe they're under the River of the Dead, and the light looks strange filtered through the water.

Link squeezes her arm and nods to the space below them...and the enormous engine that takes up the bulk of the cavern.

Zelda can't breathe.

The room comes to rest with a shudder, and Link grabs her arm before she can race out into the room. "I saw a guardian. Wait here a second." He darts off, his running footsteps loud on the stone. She bounces in excitement, them jumps at the explosion. He calls the all clear, and she forces herself to take a deep breath, push down the fear and embrace the excitement. As she meets up with him again, she tries to make herself look where she's going, keep an eye out for more guardians, but her eyes dart around, trying to take in everything, make sense of it all.

Link waits for her by a prominently placed guidance stone, and as soon as she joins him, they have a map, and as soon as they have a map and access to a modicum of control over this new Divine Beast—because the slate says it's a Divine Beast—Zelda has the central axle that stretches across the great room spinning, and she's running around, making sense of the gears. She takes excessive notes, eventually getting caught up enough that she plops down on the stairs to write in a journal and then climbs up to get a better look at how things fit together. Link doesn't rush her, but he's on alert, wary that they'll stumble across more guardians. He hovers behind her and below her, his eyes in constant motion. He keeps turning his back to her to watch the room, and the set of his shoulders reminds her so strongly of when he acted as her appointed knight that anything she means to say to him catches in her throat. But then he turns back and looks up at the contraptions over their heads, his eyes alight and his face open, and her hesitations wash away.

The beast is a marvel. She has no idea what it does.

It seems that there are four side chambers off the main room, with a control panel that they must activate inside each. Even getting inside each chamber is a bit of a puzzle, but she's certain she can solve them.

"What kind of animal do you think it resembles from the outside? It's underground, so perhaps some sort of tunneling beast. And I would guess it has four appendages, given the side rooms, so perhaps some sort of quadrupedal beast. Maybe a dog."

"Or a wolf," Link says.

"Maybe it's a mole!"

"Maybe it's like the Lord of the Mountain. Or a dragon!"

When she next checks the time, her face flushes at how long she's taken. She hastily dusts off her pants and says, "Well, I suppose we should activate the terminals now." Link turns to face her, and his carefully blank look tells her that he's trying his best not to laugh.

She leads him to the chamber involving lava first, just to poke at him a bit. To get inside the chamber, Link has to hop onto a cog of a spinning gear and ride it over a pool of lava. He tries to find a different way for her to get in: can he pull her up somehow, or is there something to push to make a bridge, or could she just stay behind? While he's searching for a safe path, she steps on the next cog to come splashing out of the lava and smirks as she hops onto the platform beside him. He is unimpressed.

Inside there is more lava, as expected, but to cross it they have to walk across a spinning axle covered in spikes. Tongues of fire shoot out from all directions at odd intervals. They stare at the room a moment, before Zelda says, "Perhaps I'll just stay here."

On the other end of the fiery bridge, there's a puzzle involving a twisted, spinning tube and a ball that (of course) needs to go in a hole. The only way to get the ball through the tube is for Zelda (who has the slate) to change the direction of all the spinning at precise moments, so Link has to shout over the noise of the churning gears and the roaring flames to let her know when to switch directions. He is very bad at it. Back and forth and back, with the ball tumbling out the way it came in on a few botched attempts, and Link shouting that he's sorry, he'll get it this time, until he finally vanishes down a slope and reappears with a ball. He opens a small gate near where Zelda waits, and together they activate the first terminal.

There's a deep clunking out in the main chamber, and Zelda hurries to get back out and see what's happened, what's changed, but the door is rotating, and she has to wait for it to come back around again before she can duck out. The second she does, Link grabs for her and snatches her back, pressing her tight against the wall.

"What? No! We need to see what—"

"What changed is now there's a bunch of guardians, standing outside waiting for us."

She blinks at him. He lifts his eyebrows.

The door has rotated again, so she can't see out. Instead, she pulls out the slate and has it search for guardians. "The little ones," Link says.

The slate pings in her hands, and she nearly drops it.

"They're just the little ones," he assures her.

The door comes around again, and Link smacks a kiss to the side of her forehead and ducks out. She counts four guardians, their faces swiveling towards Link, their eyes lighting to attention, before the door rotates around again. All she's left with is the sounds of explosions—the impact of lasers or the defeat of the guardians?—and the steady ping of the slate. Ping. They're out there. Ping. They're out there. Ping. They're out there. She can't close her eyes and imagine anything but death. She can't open her eyes to the present and watch the horrible lava. So she turns her back to the room and watches the door turn and turn and turn.

Another explosion, and the slate tries to find a new target. Then it goes silent.

Link's arms are full of ancient springs and screws, which he presents to her with a grin.

The next chamber is a huge tube with the floor and walls and ceiling near the entrance spinning under their feet. Clearly, she has to make the rest of the room spin as well, because the chamber has an electric pylon in glowing green, which needs to connect to the wires leading to the next terminal.

"Oh," she says. "The rooms are themed."

"What?"

"This is electricity. The next two chambers are going to be water and wind."

She gets out the magnesis rune and starts moving things about as Link thinks about her prediction as if he doesn't quite believe her.

There's a metal rod that she needs that's being stored up in the ceiling. Both she and Link hold the slate up as high as they can, but neither are tall enough to reach it. So Link rides the spinning floor up the wall until he's close enough to the roof to tug it free, at which point he falls off, loses control of the metal slab, and they both come crashing down. The metal beam bounces, and then is dragged to the side as the floor moves under it. The noise leaves her ears ringing.

Link lands gently with his paraglider. "You okay?" he asks.

She glares at him as she straightens up from where she ducked for cover, and snatches the slate out of his hands. She maneuvers the beam with pointed grace, and soon they activate the second terminal to another deep rumble that causes the ground to tremble.

The slate doesn't ping, but Link flicks through the screens to the compendium and has it search for the bigger guardian scouts.

There's a bigger guardian scout.

Link goes off to fight it, and there are a handful of explosions, but when he returns he looks confused and the slate is still pinging.

"There's another one," she says.

"That one was a turret." He takes the slate from her, and carefully they head out into the main room. He follows the pinging, eyes darting from the slate to the area ahead, as she sticks close to his back, peering over his shoulder. "It's up there," he says, gesturing to a platform above the main axle. He looks around, trying to find a way up, but she tugs his sleeve and guides him back to the lava gear that he hates, from which they can hop to another gear and then the platform. The moment their feet touch solid ground, there's an ominous clicking and a guardian's eye swivels to face them.

Link swears and charges it, keeping its attention, while Zelda stares at it, horror swirling through her curiosity until the two are so wrapped together that she can't tell them apart. It's not like the stalkers. It has arms and it's _armed_ with weapons she's only caught glimpses of in Link's arsenal. This guardian has a shield. And a sword. And is programmed well enough to use them.

She's irrationally upset when it explodes.

She looks away, and that's when she notices that the far wall of the main chamber has changed. Designs of strange animals are carved into long beams, and now two of those beams have shifted position. They've pulled back. Almost as if they'd unlocked. She pulls out her journal to compare it to the sketch she drew earlier. She pulls out the slate, and, yes, she can extend the main axle out and possibly fit it into a hole in the far wall. The shape is similar. Like a keyhole. She tries it, shoving at the metallic beam extending from the axle until it matches up perfectly and slots into place. The whole engine catches. And grinds. And stops.

"What happened?" Link leans over her shoulder to get a good look, and she pulls the axle from where it's clearly intended to go. It's hard to get it out, as she has to fight against the engine, but once she does, the axle resumes its spinning as if nothing went wrong.

Link frowns. "It's like..."

"A door," she says. "We've been unlocking it. Look."

He nods slowly.

"Ha! I knew that noise was suspicious. Now this makes sense. We need to activate the next two terminals, unlock the next two locks, then open this door. Now we have a real goal."

"But...what's behind the door?"

They stare at each other. Then Zelda's eyes widen. "Maybe it's another set of rooms like these! But even more complicated!"

He snorts. "More likely it's a whole army of guardians. They'll just swarm out as soon as we open the door."

She swallows. "Maybe. But maybe instead of them attacking us, we'll actually be able to control them this time. These are shrine guardians. They'll be untouched by malice. The few we've seen today are just a test for you. They're not actively malevolent." At least, that's what she's telling herself so she doesn't have a panic attack every time a laser goes off. "You have to admit, this would be the perfect place to gather all the guardian remains and study them safely."

He doesn't say she's right. But she is.

From here they can make it to the next chamber, which—of course—has a giant propeller. It isn't moving, however. It looks as if it hasn't moved in a millennia, which it hasn't. It doesn't seem to be connected to the workings outside, so she needs to head back out into the main room and find a way to get things moving. Slowly, she's bringing the whole best online. There's another metal beam stored away, and she doesn't give Link the chance to throw it on the floor and kill them both. She slides it into place with a satisfying _chunk._ Back inside, the chamber has become a giant wind tunnel that aids in their paragliding over to the terminal.

She's expecting another guardian. She's ready for another guardian. They're a test. They're marvels of technology. She's not expecting a skywatcher. Link drops to a crouch as if that will help it not see him. He quietly pulls out an arrow, lines up a shot, and lets it fly. It's barely loose from his bow when he curses himself and rolls straight off the landing onto the ground below. It's not a perfect shot, and the skywatcher swings back and forth, then swivels, its eye coming to rest somewhere below, the red beam of light trailing what can only be Link. For a second, all she can see it that red beam, all she can hear is the ever heightening whine, ratcheting, ratcheting. She's back in the past and the worst has happened and the end is near. An explosion rips her out of it, and the skywatcher swings against the blast. A bomb arrow. A bit of a wild shot.

Zelda pulls out her bow and her fingers glow blue in the glow of the ancient arrow. The guardian isn't looking at her, and it's mostly holding still, aiming at Link, so she has a clear shot.

Which she takes. The skywatcher fizzles and pops, then bursts, its parts raining to the floor.

She eases out into the main room, another ancient arrow ready in her bow, searching for a second guardian. Link moves on the level below so he can see her. "Good shot," he calls.

She lowers her bow.

The final room proves a bit more challenging to reach, and she has a few unsuccessful attempts before she figures out all the steps required. She has to use stasis to fight against gravity, then ride up and elevator pulled by a pulley, and time it all correctly, but she succeeds, bouncing on her heels one they reach a solid platform. She has made much better elevators than this Divine Beast.

Inside, the room is even more of a challenge, not because she doesn't know what to do—that much is obvious—but because the slate or the terrain makes it obnoxiously difficult to align the cryonis rune correctly. After moving about the room and trying and trying and trying and trying to form an ice pillar to hit a plunger, Link decides that cryonis must not be the way to go and tries to take the slate from her to look for metallic things.

As if she hasn't already looked for metallic things!

There _must_ be a way, but Link keeps bickering with her and then he keeps going down into the ankle-deep water, trying to hit the plunger with a sledge hammer, and making a nuisance of himself by getting in the way of the rune's workings.

When she finally gets it (she was correct), they are able to move into a room full of waterfalls. Link is the one to figure out how to lower the water level, because it involves using stasis and then smashing a valve several times with a sledgehammer. He's so pleased with himself once he's turned off the waterfalls and the water level lowers, that she can't help but laugh and kiss his cheek before heading for the newly revealed walkway, where Link gets to launch a ball back at the valve to raise the water level back up again. It's such a silly mess of logic, that she spends too long diagramming the room while Link waits at the final terminal.

They stand before the great door, the Master Sword drawn and the slate at the ready.

They look at each other. Both braced for the worst but hopeful for the best. What if it's a horde of guardians? What if it's control over this new Divine Beast?

This isn't something she has to do. This is something she wants to do. For herself, and for Link.

She lowers the slate. Turning to face him, she reaches for his cheek, pulling him in for a kiss.

Against her lips, he says, "Run straight for the bathtub if things go bad."

She breathes a laugh. "Such a worrier."

"We're a pair then."

She rests her forehead against his. "I love you."

"Love you."

"Come on." She takes one last quick kiss. "This will be fun."

They face the door. She slots the axle into place. The door shudders. And eases open.


	49. Chapter 49 Great Plateau

There's a large, bright room behind the door. The main feature is the largest pagoda for a Sheikah monk she's ever seen. It marks the end of their adventure.

Link relaxes beside her, and they cautiously step forward. The light is gold and green, reminding her of the Korok Forest, and the room is without walls, making it look more like one of the castle's gazebos than any of the shrines. Outside, she can see the uneven walls of rock that form the cavern. She still has no idea where they are.

They approach more hesitantly than they usually do. Maybe the grandness of the room draws them into showing respect, into not taking this monk for granted. Maybe the fact that none of the other Divine Beasts had monks inside them has them unnerved. They step up together to face the ancient figure, and Link takes a deep breath, almost as if saying goodbye to the journey, before he presses a palm to the force field.

It ripples and bursts, showering against her face like cool spiderwebs.

The monk's voice echoes in her head. It's like a breath. It doesn't sound like a language she knows, not a language she can speak, but somehow deep in her bones she understands.

"You have proven to possess the power of a true hero."

She smiles up at Link, proud and excited. He's standing straighter than he was.

"...In the name of the Goddess Hylia..."

A twitch catches her attention. Some movement by the monk's hand. It's a trick of the light and all the fresh movement of the Divine Beast that's had dirt raining down from the ceiling all day. Or—

The hand clenches. Ancient bones and leather crackle into a fist. Zelda grabs Link's arm.

The monk stands. He looms above them, so they have to crane their necks. He's thin as twigs, like some sort of insect, but by the time he's fully standing, any rustiness in his movements has smoothed away. His long hair flows in a breeze that shouldn't be here, his movements fluid as a spirit's as he presses his palms together, then spreads his arms wide.

"...I offer you this final trial."

Link tugs at her, and she grabs for him, but they're warping and not together. Even as her hands lose substance and her senses go numb, she can feel his hand vanish, stolen from her.

She reforms in a small, square room, made of the same material as the Divine Beasts. It has windows like the kind on Vah Medoh on three sides, and through them there's a panoramic vista of Hyrule. She seems very high up. Maybe in a tower. She rushes to the window and looks down.

She can see Link below her, standing on a wide, flat circle. He looks around, as if he's trying to find her, trying to find the danger of the final trial. She bangs a fist against the window and screams, but he can't hear her.

The monk steals their attention as he appears, warping in front of Link. He circles his arms, then strikes a defensive pose, and Zelda's stomach sinks as she realizes they're going to battle. Where Link stands is an arena. The arena is—

Floating in the air above Hyrule, at the same altitude as the Dueling Peaks.

What?! How?!

Surely they're hovering like Vah Medoh, and there are some very large turbines below them, but how did this take off without her noticing? Where was it being kept? What is happening?! Could Link fall?!

Below her, the monk attacks. He teleports like a Yiga. Her rips open geysers like a Yiga. The monk has been waiting to fight Link since before the Sheikah-Yaga schism. His moves are a flash, zig-zagging faster than her eyes can follow, before throwing himself at Link with a heavy swipe of his sword. In the blur, he looks almost like Thunderblight Ganon. Link holds his own, dodging and flipping, and rushing in to attack almost as fast as the monk. They push and push and push each other to be faster. It begins to rain as they spin around one another, and when Zelda can finally see Link's face, he's grinning.

The monk gets a good hit on him, and Link goes rolling, and Zelda has her slate out, trying to find a way to help. He's too far, and she's locked in this stupid room.

She spins, searching the walls, looking for a switch to open the windows, for an exit.

There's an access panel. It's blended flush with the wall, but she can tell from the configuration of the constellations that it's there. She pushes against the stars, her hands flying from one to the next to the next until a panel pops open. She ducks her head inside.

A curtain of blue, tube-like wires hangs down in front of her. Their glow draws her eye downward until the wires vanish into the dark several floors below. It's a straight fall to the bottom of the tower.

She has no idea what any of the wires do. Most likely she could open the window if she knew how to tap into them, but she doesn't know how. What she can do is climb down to the next access panel about thirty feet below. There's a glow around the panel's edges, marking it with a square, and she can just make out a climbable mesh in the gloom. She tucks away the slate, twists around, and slips inside.

The blue light is strange enough to make her question her eyesight. The mesh shines bright enough for her to find handholds, but her hands are a black shadow that she can only see as a lack of light reflected off the mesh.

She pops out the next access panel and hauls herself onto the next level, which looks exactly the same as the one above but wider and closer to the battle. She rushes to the window in time to see Urbosa's fury and see the monk teleport away. He reappears floating in the air in a lotus position, regrouping and re-centering himself, and Link rolls his shoulders, shaking out his arms. The monk's hands move in alien ways, fluid until they jerk, bending and twisting.

Then he splits. Again and again until he's duplicated himself into a whole row of monks, stretched out in a line, a phalanx facing Link. They disperse before she can count them, and then they're moving so fast it's beyond hope.

Suddenly, Link's fighting a horde, a swarm. One rushes at him and one teleports, appearing above him to drop into a stab, and Link dodges both and hits the second when his sword lodges in the ground. The monk vanishes in a puff of smoke, and someone's shooting an electric arrow, and someone's sending a geyser, and Link's dodging again before he can celebrate that he got one.

Or at least eliminated it. They're copies, she realizes. Illusions that can injure Link but cannot be hurt themselves. Maybe only one is the real monk, hiding in the crowd, or perhaps none of them are real.

She pulls out the slate, and she's close enough now that she can use the stasis rune. It lasts maybe two seconds on one of the monks, who has an arrow notched, aimed at Link's back, and by the time the monk is free, Link is gone, and the arrow explodes against the ground. Bomb arrows. A moment later, there's an ice arrow and another electric one and another ice one. Link slashes through the monks, one then another, always on the move. The moment the rune recharges, she freezes a monk, any monk. She's not sure that Link has noticed her assistance.

He's whittled down their number to only four when he slices one of the monks across the chest and it staggers back, bending over the wound. Link has already moved on, ducking away from another monk and another sword, before the fact of the matter catches up with him. He twists around and charges back, hacking and slashing against the real monk before the Shiekah gathers himself once again and all the monks teleport away. They reappear in a circle around Link, back up to their full number, and the battle begins again.

Zelda is bouncing too much on her heels, and forces herself to sit cross-legged on the floor, leaning forward, so her forehead is just an inch from the glass window, then jerking back as she pulls the slate up to lock one of the monks in place. The Sheikah move as one now, all lifting into the air in a ring around Link to shoot arrows at him, all lining up to run at him, so their swords slash _whap whap whap whap whap_. Any time he gets their numbers down, they split again, and even as he seems to keep his eye on the main Sheikah, even though he's able to land solid hit after solid hit, he still has to dodge all the other monks.

It's chaos, but Link finally beats the monk down enough that he and all the duplicates teleport away. He reappears once more in the sky, signaling that his tactics are once again about to change.

He glows as if he's about to warp—not teleport like a Yiga, but warp like the Sheikah tech. Then, with a surge, he grows. And grows. And grows.

He is a giant, floating over the arena, and for a moment, all Zelda can do is stare. Have the monk's powers been lost to time, or are they a well-kept secret of the Sheikah? If the Sheikah still possessed such powers, surely they would have used them. But could they, just like the ancient technology be rediscovered? Could such powers be learned? Because if so, Link could fight the last Lynels in a matter of minutes. Zelda could be her own army of research assistants.

Link shoots a bomb arrow, hitting the monk squarely in the Sheikah eye painted on the cloth across his face, but it has no effect. The monk hovers, and Link waits, his body tensed and poised and ready.

And that's when the familiar sight of a red laser beam lights across the arena. It draws a line straight from the Sheikah's eye to Link's chest, and Zelda can't breathe. She can't feel her face. Darkness creeps in at the corners of her vision, and the power of the Goddess builds in her lungs.

Link's shoulders roll, and he lifts his shield. Waiting. Waiting.

Zelda grips the slate so hard her fingers ache. Locking the Sheikah in place with stasis would do nothing but delay the inevitable. Unleashing the Goddess' Power would forfeit the trial. Or _is_ that the trial? Maybe it's the same as the Calamity so long ago: all she needs to is embrace her protective instincts and they will be victorious. This is her chance to make up for it. To protect him when she couldn't before. For her powers to rise exactly when she needs them.

She's on her feet. She takes a deep breath, absorbing all the love and brilliance and glory of this new world, filling herself with power.

And then she stops, because Link is still holding. Ready. He twists his sword in his hand as if he's ready to use it right after he does whatever he's planning. Which means he has a plan.

The world is tinted gold from the power radiating off her.

Link trusts himself. She can see it in the set of his shoulders, the certainty of his grip.

He's done so much and vanquished so many things, and yet she fears for him more than anything. Her fear has guided her for so long.

Link trusts he can do it. She needs to trust him too.

She needs to hold. She needs to trust. Oh, Goddess, she hopes she needs to trust.

The laser goes off. Link blocks it with his shield. And the beam flies back to explode against the Sheikah's face.

The monk falls to the ground, and Link runs forward, attacking the Sheikah's knee. For a moment, the dazed monk doesn't seem to notice. But then he stands and stomps his foot to throw Link back.

The slate is in her hands, and Zelda glares and locks the monk in place, and Link slashes at his ankles a few times before he runs, putting a fair bit of distance between them. Zelda heaves a breath that hurts coming out. She can see it swirl like stardust in the air before her face, see it fog against the window then dissipate as it eases from her skin, from her lungs, from her muscles.

She closes her eyes. She made the right choice.

When she opens her eyes, the monk is hovering in the air once again, and a circle of spiked spheres burst into being around him. He lifts a hand and _throws_ them, one after another, hurling them against the ground so they bounce and roll. Link sheathes his sword and takes off running.

Through the fog of her fading Goddess powers, she notes that if the monk's actions weren't so horrifying, this would be the most ridiculous thing she has ever seen. The monk is the same mix of terror and absurdity as the Yiga.

The Yiga, who also use large, metallic spheres.

Zelda switches the slate to the magnesis rune. Before he can throw the next sphere, she grabs it. She swings the slate, and the sphere smashes into the monk's shoulder. He crumples but doesn't fall from the sky. As brittle as he looks, he doesn't crumble into dust at the first hit. Or the second. Or the third. She lifts the ball as high as she can and brings it down over his head. Everything is sparking now, the monk's hat and the spheres scattered across the arena and the ball in Zelda's grasp. The way things spark just before lightning strikes. The way it did aboard Naboris. She pushes the sphere hard into the monk's chest, and when the lightning hits, he falls to the ground.

Where Link is waiting.

In his defeat, the monk stands and stumbles back, his arms spread wide. He glows as if to teleport away, as if he might disintegrate like every other monk they've seen. Instead he shrinks back to his original size, and the clouds part to a burst of sunshine.

Zelda's skin tingles as she's warped away, and before she can do more than gasp, she's on the arena floor and running toward Link.

He meets her halfway, sweeping her up into a hug that lifts her feet off the ground and spins her. "Zel! Did you see that? That was the best battle I've had in—a long—long—time." He sets her down towards the end and kisses at her face but doesn't stop talking. "Did you see—when I got two at once?—And when I hit the right one—on the first try?—And you with your magnesis—that was great—I saw those spiked balls—and I thought, 'Oh, Zelda's gonna smack him with that.'"

Then he kisses her so hard, holding her so tight at the waist, that she nearly bends over backwards. They come up panting, but then again they were already panting. She leaves trails of gold across his cheek where she holds it, her power still simmering as it fades. She beams at him, relieved and proud and now worried she might cry, and he can't seem to stop himself from grinning.

"That was awesome. That was so awesome."

"You did well," she agrees.

" _We_ did well. I think we get a boon! Let's go see what we get!" He grabs her hand and pulls her, nearly running, to where the monk waits for them.

The Sheikah's voice, echoing in her mind, now holds a disgruntled lilt. At first she thinks he's mad about how she beat him with a metal sphere. "You faced that challenge with bravery, and you've proven yourselves true heroes." He stumbles slightly over the plural in the last word, and she realizes that he's been planning this speech for eons and they've ruined his plans by working together. "You were destined to take hold of this ancient masterpiece."

Ancient masterpiece?!

She snatches at a dozen, wild guesses as to what that means before the arena trembles and shudders, some structural shift happening in the flying fortress' interior. The floor rises, telescoping upwards into stair steps. Great, sweeping arches fold over their heads. The circle in the very center lowers, and—with a deep, spinning _whirr_ —rises back up again along with a set of obelisks and…a statue.

Of a horse? A deer? It reminds her of Satori Mountain. Of Link's guess at what the Divine Beast would be and Link's stories of the Lord of the Mountain. Of the rearing horse statue in Sanidin Park, where you can see all of Hyrule laid out before you, where the wind caught at her hair and Link stood at her back.

The intricacy of its design is visible under a black casing. Gears and pistons and wheels.

Their lips part in awe, she and Link can't take their eyes off it as it keeps rising over their heads. When it comes to a stop, it's atop a guidance stone.

She can't move. Can't tear her eyes away. When she feels Link shift beside her, she turns her head slowly, mechanically to gape at him. He stares wide eyed and grinning back at her.

He holds out his hand, gesturing her forward. She only then remembers the slate held loose in her grip.

She blinks to shake herself and holds it out for him to take, to walk forward, to press it to the guidance stone and claim his boon.

He rolls his eyes and shoves it back at her.

She huffs and shoves it back at him.

He squirms and twists away and pulls his arms to his chest as if he's not going to take it, even if she throws it at him. Which she might. How can he be so childish after the battle he just fought?

"Fine," she says, throwing her hands in the air. "Together then. Not that it matters, as we share the slate anyway."

"It's the principle of the thing," he says, and slips a hand to the small of her back as they walk forward.

They each have a hand on the slate, each a hand around each other's waists as they set the slate into the guidance stone. It's snatched from their fingers as the pedestal flips it around, making it all the more ludicrous that they fought over who got to hold it. The pedestal lights.

 _Sheikah slate authenticated. Distilling rune._

"Rune," Zelda breathes.

There's the wooshing sound of something warping, but she can't see what, and a drop of liquid blue falls onto the slate. She has to hold herself back, so she doesn't put her face right up to the slate immediately to see the new rune and get splashed in the eye with the excess data liquid.

 _Master Cycle Zero_.

The rune lets them summon it.

Summon it. And then what?

She looks up at Link to ask, but before she can, they're warping. In the back of her mind, the monk whispers. "May the Goddess smile upon you."

They reappear on the Great Plateau, just outside the Shrine of Resurrection, on the grassy hill overlooking Hyrule—her homeland that was, and that will be again.

She turns and looks to the sky, hurrying backwards, farther from the entrance. She shields her eyes with her hand and searches for the flying fortress. It's either blocked by the mound of the shrine or it's vanished just as magically as it appeared. Or maybe it was all just a vision in the first place.

Link steps up beside her, and she abandons her search. She has much more pressing matters. She lifts the slate and leans into his side so he can see. When she brings up the rune, a white circle of light appears on the ground before her, and she can shift it around by changing the angle of the slate. A bit like cryonis. She trades a curious look with Link, who reaches across her and impatiently presses his finger to the rune.

The statue from before warps in, landing in the white circle. "The rune summons it," she whispers.

Then they're touching it, running their hands over it. She ducks down to see its workings and Link shoves at it a bit to see if it will take his weight. The glow inside of it is pulsing, and she traces the wires with her eyes. It smells of the guardians back at the royal tech lab, of freedom and rebellion. "The saddle suggests that you could ride it. That it's a means of transportation. The horse design is further evidence of that. But it has wheels. A cart? A self-propelled cart?"

Link throws a leg over the beast until he's sitting astride it. It bounces a bit under his weight, and she stands up before he accidently makes it flare to life in her face. He reaches for a pair of handlebars, like the bicycles in Castle Town from Before. "Master Cycle," she says.

"They turn," he says.

"I beg your pardon?"

He twists one of the handlebars and the engine roars to life with an almighty _vroom_ that nearly startles her into dropping the slate. The roar fades into a steady chugging rumble, a thin trickle of smoke escaping from a pipe in the back. She very much wants to investigate it but knows better than to inhale unknown gasses. At least until they get back to the tech lab with Purah around for first aid.

Link twists the handlebar again, and grins at the sheer volume he elicits. His eyes are bright when he looks at her over his shoulder.

"Get on."

"Excuse me?"

"Get on." He reaches back and pats the saddle behind him.

"We should...run some tests..."

He purses his lips and reaches for her, pulling her until he's holding her close with an arm around her waist and looking up at her with a face full of daring and hope.

"Come on an adventure with me."

She sags in resignation, and he grins as she tucks the slate away.

It's not quite like mounting a horse, as it's much lower to the ground. And when she last shared a saddle with Link, she was in front, and this is different as well. As soon as the cycle rolls into motion, she doesn't trust that she can sit upright without holding onto anything as she does on a horse.

But luckily Link is with her. She wraps her arms around him and peeks over his shoulder as they ride down the hill, faster and faster, until the wind whips back her hair and whips back a laugh, and Link lets out a whoop, and she's grinning so hard her face hurts.

#

They warp to Terry Town later in the week, to meet Vah Medoh, pick up their mail, and hand over a large stack of letters of their own.

"This would be easier if you lived on the mail route," Amali says, shooting them a look out of the corner of her eye.

"We're working on it," Zelda says.

"Hmm."

The girls have a great many things to tell Link, mostly dealing with their new game of throwing flammable things out Vah Medoh's windows as they fly over Eldin and how they ate snails for the first time, and they're _so weird_! Link gives them a recipe for snail meuniere, and they run off to see if they still have ingredients.

Kass dodges around his daughters as he comes down to join Zelda and Link. Life with his family is suiting him. His feathers are brighter, and there's something relaxed in the set of his shoulders that Zelda hadn't realized was absent until this moment. Or maybe that could be because he's finally finished his teacher's song.

"Would you like to hear it?" he asks, but he already has his accordion at the ready.

Zelda threads her fingers through Link's and leans her head on his shoulder as they listen to the cumulation of years of study and artistry. It's sweeping. Heroic. Unlike his other songs, this one doesn't remind her that her friends are dead.

Her friends lived. And they were wonderful.

She beams at him and applauds when he finishes. "That was magnificent. Your teacher would be so proud."

He bows his head in gratitude, his feathers fluffing in embarrassment. Amali smiles and rubs his shoulder.

"Actually," Kass says, "I found this in my teacher's notes." He slips a piece of paper from the side of his accordion and hands it to them.

It's a photograph, made from an image taken with her own slate. It's a picture the Champions took together so long ago, an image captured for all time: Revali and Mipha knocked forward; Link, Urbosa, and Zelda squished too close together; Daruk in the back grinning as he disrupts their perfectly posed image.

Zelda laughs even as her vision blurs with tears. She points at it so Link can see. "Look how hard you're trying not to touch me," she says.

Link makes a disgusted noise at his past self and squeeze her hand tighter.

"Wait," he says, looking up at Kass and narrowing his eyes. "How long have you had this? You've known who we were this whole time. You're the only person I've flat out told, and you knew the whole time."

Kass shifts and refuses to meet his eyes. "I thought you would appreciate some discretion," he mumbles.

Zelda laughs. "Dear Kass, you have surpassed your teacher in so many ways."

His head snaps around to pin her with a bright-eyed stare. His mouth opens to ask everything she knows about the Sheikah poet, but she holds up a hand to stop him.

"No. I'm far too busy. I need to find a picture frame."

#

Dear Robbie,

I hope this letter finds you and your family well.

I'm writing in hopes that I may commission a set of goggles for Link. We've recently discovered a new means of transportation which reaches exceptionally high speeds, and bugs keep hitting him in the eye. I've attached what I believe would be appropriate payment. If you could keep it a secret, I would appreciate it, as I want to surprise him.

I'm now certain that I know how to start building a second Sheikah slate, and I hope to start in the coming weeks. I don't have plans for all the runes, but I'm certain I could recreate the graphical interface, the map function, and the image capture system. Symin believes he can create a decent approximation of the sensor feature, and Purah is certain she could recreate other runes as long as she has access to the guidance stones that distilled the runes in the first place. Therefore, we may be relocating the Hateno tech lab to the Great Plateau in the near future. I have an idea for the perfect spot for a new tech lab on the plateau. Some of the young people in Kakariko are interested in learning about ancient technology, so I may recruit them once we have the facility set up. Yunobo of the Gorons has agreed to help gather the disabled guardians and relocate them, so the new lab could have access to several hundred disabled guardians if only we can get permission for Vah Rudania to travel over people's land. So far this has been an annoying obstacle.

If you would like to be involved in the new lab, you would be most heartily welcomed.

Yours,

Zelda

#

Dear Barta,

Thank you so much for your lovely gift. The fabric is beautiful, and the color works quite well with my complexion. It also fits quite well, which I honestly find both impressive and disconcerting. I know you intended your gift to embarrass me, but I am not at all sorry to tell you that you've failed. Perhaps you should try again. This time in black.

Give Naboris my love.

Yours,

Zelda

#

Dear Yunobo,

I am so pleased to hear of your tremendous progress both in controlling Rudania and in the newly made bridges at the North Mine. You should be so proud of your hard work, and I am proud to call such a dedicated Champion my friend.

Could we visit next week to see the bridges? I'm so excited to see what you've made.

Yours,

Zelda

#

His Royal Highness, King Dorephan of the Zora,

I hope this letter finds you and your people well. I've heard that with the help of Goron smiths, much progress has been made on repairs to the Eastern Reservoir. I am excited to see it returned to its former glory. I hope this partnership was pleasant and fruitful, and a bright beginning for future cultural exchange and collaboration.

To continue this important work of rebuilding, I am putting together a Committee for Hyrulian Reconstruction. My hope is that the committee will have a representative from every city and settlement. That way we may hear the difficulties still to be faced and more efficiently barter our expertise and resources. It would mean so very much to me if you would select a representative and send them to our first meeting at the Wetland Stable at the next new moon.

I hope that we may work toward a brighter future for Hyrule. Together.

All honor and respect,

Zelda of Hyrule


End file.
